No Sales Page. No Email List. $10k in Sales a Month
Episode 400: Show Notes
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about our side hustles, the things we work on outside of Boss Project. Since we’re right back at the beginning stages with these projects, we thought it might be a good idea to share things as we implement and test them out. In this episode, we are going to dive into Abagail’s side hustle, sharing with listeners her processes, struggles and everything she’s learning.
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She gives us the inside scoop on why she decided to take on this new endeavor, why she is personally invested in the health and wellness space, and what she hopes to offer other women who are in the same boat. Despite some people’s hesitancy about this type of business, Abagail shares how network marketing has been serving her well and then elaborates about the relevance of blogging, social media, email lists, Facebook ads, and other common strategies in her business. Finally, you will hear some great pointers for creating more consistency in your business!
The What, Why, and When of Abagail’s Health and Wellness Coaching
Abagail’s health and wellness business aims to help women take back their lives and go through personal health transformations. Her clients are mostly overweight and have a desire to lose weight and reclaim their health, while others have health issues such as autoimmune conditions or thyroid issues and want to start making more natural choices in all areas of their lives. Because Abagail has been through many of these things herself, her clients can relate to her. Following a traumatic brain injury three years ago, Abagail struggled sleeping and felt sick and wanted to regain control over her health. She started the journey at home, even before she was ready to lose weight, but she wanted to begin cleaning up the kind of products they were using. Abagail is a rep for a company called Young Living, and she makes revenue by selling their products, but this is not the totality of her business. She has grown her business to about 200 customers in only six months — which amounts to about $10,000 in sales. She was comfortable in that space because it wasn’t about the money. But about a year ago her husband was desperate to leave his job and they started thinking about the idea of getting him involved in this side business full-time. This would allow Abagail to give most of her attention to Boss Project while having someone else there to further develop the business.
The Benefits of Network Marketing
The cool part about network marketing is that you don’t have to do it alone: you get people to help you and when they succeed, you succeed too! This is how the whole ecosystem is built. This scenario makes many people uncomfortable but to Abagail, it’s a win-win because essentially what you are doing is hiring sales staff on commission only, so you are not paying them anything until they earn the commission. The “mothership” company is the party who is responsible for paying out the commission, so that burden is not on your shoulders either.
Thoughts on Blogging and Creating Impactful Content
When we started Think Creative Collective, Abagail was blogging five times a week. While she has a passion for blogging, she has since realized it is a long-term strategy that requires a lot of time and effort. Abagail blogs for her business, but only once or twice a month, on topics that are truly beneficial and gets her audience thinking differently. She also urges her followers to join her Facebook community. Her decision to blog less frequently is mainly due to time constraints because for her, the more content you have, the better — especially in the health and wellness space. But there is also a ton of dangerous advice out there, particularly if you search places like Pinterest. Abagail has a slower, natural, whole-food approach to weight loss, and because of this, her blog and content tend to stand out above the rest. The most effective blog posts have been the honest, vulnerable ones where she talks about her own struggles.
Using Social Media as a Relationship-Building Platform
We all know that social media can be highly effective in growing a business and it has also fueled Abagail’s health and wellness venture. But in her case, it’s not because she has followers but rather because she uses it as a relationship-building platform. She spends more time getting to know people while also posting on stories and her feed. When people respond to her posts, she makes an effort to engage with them and find out more about their lives, what they’re struggling with and their health concerns. Showing interest in their lives starts the relationship and Abagail has the opportunity to provide guidance and also to introduce them to her products. She mainly uses Instagram and Facebook. One of the first things she did was start a Facebook group and it was meant to keep her connected to her audience and to be a channel through which to keep educating them. For a long time, all her current customers, prospects, and business people were in one group so everybody would see everything she posted, and that was effective for a long time. But when the business expanded, it made more sense to separate the groups.
Growing an Email List and Running Ads
Abagail does not have an email list, even though it could potentially help. She did that on purpose to see how long she could get away with not having one. She realizes the best way for her to build her business is to have personal relationships, understand where people are at and suggest things that make sense for their lives. For her, sending mass-market emails would not be particularly helpful in the health and wellness industry and her community. Emails simply do not seem to catch on. When it comes to ads, Abagail does not do any advertising either. The only money she spends in this regard is internally on giveaways, educational materials, and loving on her people. Part of that is because network marketing and advertising on Facebook are not friends. Also, Young Living has its own set of rules about what is and isn’t appropriate. She knows that nurturing her customer relationships and having a good follow-up system is going to pay off. She has 3000 followers on Instagram and makes $10,000 in sales each month.
Ideas For Building Consistency
Because of the way Abagail bills and the fact that she has Boss Project too, her side hustle has varied in terms of how much attention she pays to it. With her husband being involved with it full-time, she knows there is someone who is fully invested at all times. But she has had struggles with groups of people leaving after hearing something on the news or something happens to someone personally and they decide for whatever reason the product is no longer for them. In order to stay consistent, it’s imperative to develop habits around how you approach your business and how you get new people on board — and then keep doing that. A business like this will grow stagnant if you put it on the back burner and stop showing up for your audience. Find those behaviors that lead to success and do those every day. If you are in this industry, understand that people have to trust you, so establishing that is the top priority.
Quote This
For me, I know what is going to be more effective in the short-term is getting to know people and spending time nurturing that relationship.
Highlights
The What, Why, and When of Abagail’s Health and Wellness Coaching. [0:03:36.1]
The Benefits of Network Marketing. [0:10:25.1]
Thoughts on Blogging and Creating Impactful Content. [0:12:04.1]
Using Social Media as a Relationship-Building Platform. [0:20:46.1]
Growing an Email List and Running Ads. [0:26:33.1]
Ideas For Building Consistency. [0:32:58.1]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:38:34.1]
Identify your growth tool.
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ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Side hustle, Health and wellness, Relationship-building, Social media, Email lists, Ads, Consistency, Young Living
