186: The Lazy Entrepreneur's Guide to 10X Growth

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Welcome to the Creators MBA Podcast, your go to resource for mastering the art and science of Digital Product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destiny Kopp and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk constantly live launching or worrying about the social media algorithms. I hope you enjoy our episode today. You hi there, Destiny here. And today I want to talk about a concept that could change the way you run your business. Now I know that many of you, you don't have a ton of time to invest in your business. At most, some of you might only have 20 hours per week to work. And that's between all of the kids stuff, the family obligations and everything else that you have going on. The concept that I want you to think about today is called the 8020 rule. Or if you're in the scientific community, the Pareto principle. And this rule suggests that about 80% of the outcomes come from 20% of your inputs. In other words, a small portion of what you're doing is responsible for most of your success. So let's talk about what this means to you as an entrepreneur and why you should care about this. So here's the deal. We are all juggling a million things. We're creating products, we're marketing them, we're dealing with customers, we're managing our websites, we're posting on social media, we're creating content. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. It can feel like we are always busy, but are we really moving the needle? And that's where the 8020 rule comes in. It's all about working smarter, not harder. So by focusing on the stuff that really matters, and I'm going to call that the magical 20%, you can drive results without working 60 plus hours a week. Now, in my digital product, Glue Flab that we are going to be launching next month, this is a major focus for us and that is figuring out what you should focus on to actually move the needle in your business instead of spreading yourself too thin. So let's break it all down here. I want to walk you through the 8020 rule in action. And the first place where you can apply this concept is when you are creating new products. And I know all of us and I'm, I'm going to put myself in this category too. We love creating new products. Well, here is the truth bomb. You might not need to do this. Instead, what I want you to do is to take a look at the products you already have in your portfolio. Even your lead magnets and things that you have been giving away for free over the years. I want you to figure out what your product superstars are and these are the ones that people cannot live without. You know that these are your flagship products. I want you, instead of creating new products, I want you to pour your energy into, into making those products even better. Another opportunity that I want you to do. And let's go back and assume that you might have these lead magnets that you've created over the years. I want you to figure out which lead magnets you really need to take that new person coming into your world on that buyer's journey. And then I want you to repurpose all of those old lead magnets into paid products. You can make them better. You can beef them up and you could put them in a sales funnel. You can put them in like an order bump or maybe a bundle some of them together in like an upsell. So you're going to take what you've already done and you're going to repurpose it. Now, moving on, let's talk about marketing and figure out where's your gold mine here. And I would have to say we have all been there and that is trying to be everywhere at once. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, email, blog posts, YouTube, podcast. I mean, it can be exhausting. But here's the thing. Not all of these channels are created equal for your business. And what might work for me, something else might work better for you. I'm not on TikTok. I don't plan on being on TikTok, but TikTok may work great for you. I love Pinterest I love podcasting. You might like being on Instagram, and that's where your sales are coming from and your customers are coming from. So that's what I want you to analyze. I want you to dig into all of that data and look at where your sales are actually coming from. And I want you to identify your top performing channels. These are the ones that are bringing in your customers. And then I want you to double down on those channels and make them your marketing playground. And then for the ones that just aren't working for you, it's okay to let them go or maybe just put them on the back burner and don't post on them right now. So maybe you'll find that most of your sales is coming from your email list and Pinterest, while your Instagram is just crickets. So then I would say, why not focus on crafting amazing emails and your Pinterest content and driving traffic to your website instead of stressing about things that aren't working for you. The next thing I want you to think about is your customers. And here's a little secret that you might not be aware of. And that is not all customers are created equal. Some of your customers are probably spending way more than others or buying everything you put out there. And I have people like this. Like, I have people that will buy almost everything that we offer. So I want you to take a look at your customer base and really, you know, identify what you would call your super fans. And these are the ones who buy often or maybe they're spending big with you. And I think if you go into your stripe account, it will tell you who those people are. I know, like, we have customers in our hobby school brand that buy every single VIP pass and all of the upsells that we offer through that funnel. Every time we have a summit, they will go in and buy it. So those are our super fans. They are very interested in what we have to offer and they love it. So I want you to think about those type of customers and how you can make those VIPs feel very extra special. And then you can think about creating experiences or offers just for them. So think about that and really identify who your VIP customers are. The next thing I want you to think about really comes down to time management. The most precious thing we have as an entrepreneur or just in life in general is, is our time. We can never get our time back. And the 8020 rule suggests that a small portion of what you do each day is responsible for most of your results. So here's what you can do to kind of figure out what is your sweet spot there. So for a week, I want you to jot down what you're doing each day and what comes out of it, you know, what you accomplished, if you would. I want you to spot the tasks that are really moving the needle for your business, track how long those take you, and then say, you know, these are the ones that I'm seeing the most results from. I know for us it comes down to our podcast episodes, it comes down to our weekly email newsletter and what we do with the email list. And then it comes down to our distributing our content, which the for the majority of what we do, we're using Pinterest for that. And we know that those three things are really moving the needle for us. So then I want you to make those high impact tasks your priority. And for the other stuff, you can delegate, you can automate, or you can even eliminated. So like I said, you might realize that the hour that you spend on email marketing consistently drives your sales, while the hours that you spend perfecting your social media posts, not so much. So then I would just suggest that you shift your focus to what is working for you and to really understand what is working to move that needle in your business. Now the next thing I want to talk about, and this is an area that you should definitely take a close look at, and that is creating content. And I would suggest here that quality beats quantity. And we know that creating content is a big part of our digital product businesses. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at how your content is performing, what's getting traffic, and what's leading to sales. And then I want you to identify your superstar content. And this is the stuff that's really resonating with your audience. What are they responding to, what are they watching, what are they listening to? And then really figure out what makes that content special. Is it the format? Is it the topic? Is it the way you presented it? And then I want you to create more content like your top performers. So that's going to help you really understand where you need to be placing your focus. So maybe what your focus should be are YouTube videos and that's what's driving a lot of traffic to your website. If that's what it is, and you know that's part of your content creation strategy, then double down on that. The next thing I want you to think about is scaling up, but not burning out. So really define your sweet spot here. I want you to take a good look at your products and your services, think about which ones are bringing in the most money with the least amount of effort from you. So let me just say that again. To scale your digital product business, I want you to take a good look at your product and your services and your offers and figure out which ones are bringing the most money with the least ongoing effort from you. So you're going to list out all of your offers and you're going to list out how much time and effort each one of them takes. And then you're going to identify the ones that are making good money but don't need you to be hands on with them all the time. And then think about how you can promote or expand these scalable offers. And I know that a lot of you, because you are digital product entrepreneurs, I know that you have products that you've already created here that might be a self study course, might be a digital product bundle. I want you to think about how you could promote and get these awesome products that you have out into the marketplace. Whereas like a service that you're doing, or you know, if you have like one on one coaching where you having to do zoom calls all the time, that's not as scalable as a self paced online course, I just want you to think about that and figure out what you can do to get more revenue coming into your business without it taking up more of your time. Okay, the next thing I want you to do is to embrace automation. So when you're thinking about the 8020 rule, this can also apply to you setting up systems that handle most of your routine tasks, which will free you up to focus on more strategy, more big picture stuff, and more things that are going to move the needle, if you would in your business. So I want you to identify tasks that you find yourself doing over and over and over again. So think about AI and how you can get AI to do a lot of this in your business. Now we are using AI day in and day out in our business to help us with email marketing, content creation, all of that stuff that used to take us hours and hours to do. And quite frankly it is cut all of that in more than half the time. So we're doing it at least 50% faster than what we used to do in the past. So I want you to look for tools and software that can take all of that off of your plate. For things that can't be fully automated. What I want you to do is think about creating a simple step by step guide, a lot of times you'll hear those referred to as SOPs or standard operating procedures. And the reason why you want these step by step guides is if you ever at a point where you are ready to hire a VA or somebody that can come into your business and help you, like five hours a week, you can just easily hand off stuff like that to them. Okay? So definitely think about ways that you can use AI to cut your work in half and then make sure you have those step by step guides put in place. So when you're ready to outsource some of this, it's easy for you to do it. Now what I want you to do is to watch out for some of these traps here. There are definitely a couple of pitfalls to watch out for. The first one is I don't want you to mistake being busy for being productive. So just because you're always doing something doesn't mean that you're focusing on the right things. I want you to keep an eye on the results, not just how busy you feel. The other thing I don't want you to do is to completely ignore that other 80%. So we definitely want to make sure that we are focusing on the high impact stuff and activities in our business. You can't neglect everything else. The other 80% still contributes to your business. Quite frankly, it's still going to have to get done. So make sure that you don't ignore it. The other thing I don't want you to get stuck in is in analysis paralysis. So don't get so caught up in trying to perfectly identify your 8020 split that you never actually make any changes. I want you to remember that this is a guideline and not an exact science. So if you are ready to give this a go, I want to give you a simple way to get started. To identify the 20% activities in your business, the first thing I want you to do is take a really good look at what you're doing. So look at your products, your marketing efforts, your customers, and how you spend your time. And I want you to identify the top performers in each area. This is going to be the activities and the things that are really driving your results. And then make a plan to focus more of your energy on all of these key drivers and then look for ways to streamline or automate the rest. Now in our business we have definitely done this, so we are using AI on a regular basis. We have done a lot of automations in our business and put together those sops so we know what needs to be done for each task. We have focused on specific products and events that we're working on. And quite frankly, there's a lot of stuff that we've kind of put to the side and said, you know what, that's not driving ourselves and we're not going to spend our time working in those areas. And social media has been one of those for us. Now, I'm not saying that we won't go back and revisit that at some point in the future, but right now it hasn't been a main focus for us. So what I want you to do is to put your plan in action and keep an eye on the results and then go back and reassess every now and then and look at what's working, what's not working, because some of this may change over time. So just to wrap it up here today, I just want to mention that the 8020 rule isn't just about managing your time better. It's about completely changing how you approach your business and life. By zeroing in on what really drives your success, you can achieve some serious growth without working all of those crazy hours. And I do want you to remember, it's not about working more. That's not what we're wanting to do here. It's about working smarter. So by doubling down on those 20% activities, you can make a much bigger impact while potentially lightening your workload. And don't we all want that? And if you are excited about this concept and you want to apply it to your business, I have got something special coming up for you. Next month, I am launching the Digital Product Growth Lab where we will be diving into strategies like this and putting together a very tailored and focused plan for you and your business. And this will help you focus on those 20% activities to 10x your digital product revenue. I'd like to invite you to get on our wait list so you can be the first to know when the doors open. And remember, it's not about working harder, it's about working smarter. And here's to your success. And thanks so much for tuning in today. Bye for now. Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode today. If you love the show, I'd appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.