Dear {{ first name | reader }},

It’s been a while, and I’m finally getting a kidney transplant soon.

It’s been a longer hiatus than I expected, but there’s still a few months of journey ahead (surgery, recovery, and stabilisation).

I hope that you have been doing well, and I’ve kept in touch with some of you.

I am impressed with the progress that some of you have made in your own micro businesses.

I’m happy for you.

I’m going through a big change in my life right now, and realised that the freedompreneur theme no longer serves me.

Entrepreneurship is still a part of me and will always be, but I have something bigger for you.

This newsletter moving forward, will be talking about not just microbusinesses, but discussing the 5 anchors of life:

• Purpose

• Time

• Health (emotional and physical)

• Social

• Money

I’m excited to talk about this new and improved topic and discuss my reflections on my coming newsletters with you.

Lying in the hospital bed, facing death has given me fresh perspectives about life.

If you choose to stay on, we’re in for a great ride.

If you choose to unsubscribe, no hard feelings.

Either way, I look forward to talk more about this in the coming months ahead.

The newsletter will be rebranded with a new name: Pathfinder Journal.

If you have Facebook, here’s the link to its Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568809605235

The new name reflects finding fresh frontiers in the face of adversity.

Pathfinder Journal will take some time to get started, as I get my life in order beyond the surgery.

So do stay on and stay tuned to your inbox.

Meanwhile, if you’re on socials, I post a lot more on Linkedin, but still come up on X when time allows.

Catch up on those platforms.

I wish you a great weekend.

To your success,

Howie Tan

Dear reader, I apologize about the months of silence but I have recently been hospitalized for kidney failure and hence been unable to write for The Freedompreneur for a long time.

It started many months back when I started feeling bouts of fatigue, which I thought was due to flu and covid.

But on hindsight, there was a more sinister condition underlying all those.

I wrote about it in a public Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/CrH1Di7P14Vng1m8/?

It was a heck of a way to close 2023, but when life throws lemons at you, make a nice spritzer by adding it to a soda.

The message I wanna share here is that you don’t have to wallow in your circumstance, whatever it may be.

It takes a conscious choice to stay optimistic, or remain pessimistic.

The way I switch things up is by asking myself “What is life trying to teach me here?”

At the same time, remember that everything happens for a reason, and life has your back no matter what (or you might say God, nature, universe, source, depending on your religion, each has a similar saying).

If you learn to take breaks from stress, your mind and actions will take care of you.

I plan to take a break from writing the newsletter for a while, because I currently have limited energy.

It will also be a time for me to realign better with what I want to do with my content.

Since the start of The Freedompreneur, I’ve kept my writing to just business related topics.

That was great because building is my passion, but it does feel dry after a while.

I also felt that I wasn’t able to express my thoughts fully as a person in my newsletter.

Business is one facade of life, and there are others, like family, health, even spirituality, which I have come to find peace in.

I wish to share my perspectives about life in a kore holistic way, especially with this condition.

I’ve been posting about this a lot on social media and it has garnered a lot of support, with people saying that the posts has helped them gain a different perspective of their own challenges.

I hope to be able to continue this way, helping people lead a life they want and continue to build a business but in the way they will love it.

So if you’re up for it, I will announce the new direction (and perhaps name) of the improved newsletter here in the future.

If you’d like to stay in touch, and/or read my updates, I post most frequently on both Facebook and Linkedin.

Follow me or add me as a connection on those platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehowietan

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thehowietan/

See you there for now.

Rooting for your success,

Howie Tan

My early career in digital marketing started with sales.

I was used to hitting up people cold on social media, starting conversations to close sales, and running direct response ads to achieve sales targets.

But when I started my consulting business, I decided that I would do the reverse.

Instead of pushing for sales goals, I looked for strategies to attract interested buyers.

Ngl, this shift in mindset was a challenge to my sales brain.

But numerous consistent clients later, I feel that these lessons will help you, my reader, learn how to grow.

I distilled my strategy into 4 pillars, that you can use to attract customers like candy floss to kids:

1. Social media

Too many people tell me that they get stalled because they can’t create a website.

In today’s world, your social media presence is more important than a .com.

Make sure that your social media is updated with what you do and a professional photo of yourself.

You want to represent yourself well to people who are meeting you for the first time.

Choose a platform: Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, X

Or just update all, but one of them must be the social media that represents you when you talk to someone new.

2. Network

I have tried both: networking online and face-to-face.

There’s just something about meeting someone in the flesh that you can’t take away from.

Look, the pandemic is over, so it’s great to be able to meet people again.

Magic happens when you start putting yourself out there.

To do this, find networking groups in your local area.

Websites like meetup.com are great at finding like-minded people.

Once you’ve met someone, ask them what other groups they meet.

Like-minded people tend to congregate, so the simple trick is to ask.

When you meet people, have a 10-second pitch about what you do to introduce yourself.

Here’s a template:

“I help [target audience] do [result] using [your trade or skill].”

When you talk to others, be curious about what they do before talking about yourself.

Many people who this but can’t help talking about themselves first.

If the conversation steers that way, no problem.

But if you are constantly talking about what you do before knowing about the other person, it becomes a turn-off.

No one likes a narcissistic fool.

The other advantage of doing this is that you get a chance to calibrate what you want to say to pique their interest.

This means that you get to learn about what they like/dislike before talking about yourself.

3. Content

Lots of people get jitters from this.

But what if I told you that you already create content on a daily basis?

Every single day that you are working on your business, something will happen, you might close a deal, handle a difficult situation, or create a system that keeps things going.

What does it cost you to write that down somewhere on a note-taking app or write using voice-to-text?

You have endless content in your head, you just don’t realize it.

4. Partnerships

When networking, don’t just think of how you can sell your services or products.

Think about:

• What sort of partnerships can you forge with this person?

• Referrals that you can give them, a connector gain connections as well, and people reciprocate.

• What are other ways you can help this person achieve their goals?

The most successful partnerships come from people with common values.

You don’t need the same skill sets, but you need to have similar priorities.

For eg, a partner of mine shares the same freedom-loving values.

We enjoy working with each other because freedom keeps us rolling.

What are some values of your own?

Write them down on a piece of paper.

Then decide on 3-5 that best represents you.

If you’re a business owner looking to scale your business to the next level, check out my post on Linkedin which breaks down the different stages that I go through with those that I work with.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thehowietan_the-4-stages-of-scale-adapted-this-framework-activity-7128721337455431680-3EgH

Have an awesome weekend!

Howie

I have decided to talk about larger business targets now instead of pure beginner-level techniques to cater to the various levels of business owners reading this newsletter.

Whether you are a seasoned business owner or just starting out, these issues will be focused on taking your business to the next level.

This week’s newsletter is on the roadmap to $10,000,000.

I have helped a company grow to $2m a month ($24m/year), so this is based on experience.

For anyone who has done any amount of business (from a few months to 3 years), most people are aiming for $1,000,000. And once you’ve hit that, getting to $10m is like a sport, you’re doing it for the love of the game.

So I’ll break this into stages, and you’ll be able to identify the parts you’ll need to elevate your business.

Here’s the anatomy of an 8-figure business:

1. Your purpose

Before anyone says this is a fluffy thing, allow me to explain why it matters:

Throughout your business journey, you will encounter countless challenges.

If you’re just doing it for the money, you will realize that you will lose motivation once a setback get tough enough.

I’ve seen new solopreneurs and $1m business owners alike, losing their mojo once adversity hits.

So take your while to find out what your why is.

Some reasons:

• I want to bring my family on a holiday at least 4 times in a year.

• Want to live in a comfortable classy environment.

• Desire to impact lives, I have friends who do this because they want to grow the awareness of the public towards the topic they are passionate about.

• Love to have a large team, it makes you feel accomplished to be creating jobs.

As you can see, not all answers are politically correct.

And that’s totally fine.

What’s most important is that you are true about what you want.

Do not choose a why just because society wants you to, no two humans are the same.

2. Set goals

There are 2 types of goals:

a. Qualitative goals

This refers to the direction you want your business to take.

Are there certain people you want to impact?

Is there a group of businesses you want to belong to?

Do you want to keep to one brand or create multiple brands?

b. Quantitative goals

These will include the all-important revenue goal.

Break them down into:

• Annual
• Quarterly
• Monthly

I review these with my clients, and do this for my own business at every interval.

It keeps your mind on track and focused on the actions you need to directly impact the sales you generate.

Goals keep everyone on your team dialed into the same objective.

3. Measure and systemize

Businesses from 6-figure onwards need a lot of these.

Yes, you’ll always want to think in terms of systems, but if you’re just launching your business, you tend to be a lot more nimble.

So at below 6-figures, keep refining your product-market fit and reiterating on what works. (See next step)

From 6-figure onwards, develop repetitive SOPs that you can hand off to a VA or team member.

Even if you choose to be a solopreneur, the SOP will help you engage freelancers better.

Anything that you need to repeat instructions for 3 times should have an SOP.

This allows you to pass it to the next team member without having to train them hands-on.

4. Offer

Your offer always have room to improve.

Either:

• Improve on current offers by refining its positioning, and testing on different market segments to find more fit. OR

• Add more offers that will give you a chance to hit a home run.

I am an advocate for testing out different offers, until you find a good fit.

If you’re starting out, this means your services can be reframed or change the type of service you provide until you find one that people take up readily.

If you’re already doing well, additional offers diversifies your risk, you don’t want to be too dependent on one single product.

Take time to refine them once you have something decent.

Think of how scalable your offer is.

If you are doing 1on1 consulting, you’re likely only to go as far as $20,000/month.

If you want to scale past that, cohorts or digital products will provide scalability.

5. Funnel

The sale doesn’t end on the first buy.

Always have something you can upsell or downsell to your customers.

This increases your ability to help them on a deeper level.

At the same time, it gives you more leeway to attain better cashflow in your business.

Most of the business that has difficulty scaling either has no upsells, or don’t keep in touch with their customers (see point 7).

Additional cash gives you more to spend on paid ads, or on means to improve your product.

6. Traffic

There are many ways to drive traffic.

A lot of solopreneurs on X and Linkedin build content to grow followers.

But don’t forget that it is but one way to gain traction for your product/service.

Other ways include: SEO, Ads, networking, partnerships, ecommerce marketplaces, cold DM/email.

I look at traffic as getting eyes to your offer.

It’s less about which platform is hot right now, so you don’t need to think of making dancing videos.

Think about the best fit for your offer.

Ads don’t work well for high ticket items like a $1000 consult, DMs work a lot better, or physical networking.

Or think of combinations of two sources: if a content does well, run run traffic to it.

7. CLTV

You don’t just sell to customers once.

Even if someone hasn’t bought from you, it does not mean they won’t ever.

You need a way to stay in touch.

Think in terms of CLTV (customer lifetime value) instead of one-off transactions.

There’s no better way to do this than through email and text.

Collect these data when the customer buys from you.

And when you have a free sample to give out, be sure to collect their contact info as well.

Send emails once a week at the start and increase it to 3 times a week after you’ve crossed 10,000 subscribers.

You might think that this is a lot, but most of your subscribers will not open every single email from you.

Your top fans will still love you because you’re keeping in touch.

Out of the 3 emails, 2 should be content and value-packed emails.

And one can be a sales email asking directly for the subscribers to buy something.

“But wouldn’t this hurt my brand?” I hear someone say.

As long as you are feeding the relationship with value, there’s no harm asking for the sale.

If you’re sending sale emails all the time, you won’t be building any brand.

Think about email as a relationship builder, you’re farming, not hunting.

Nurture the relationship and your subscribers will reward you.

Text marketing should support email marketing efforts.

I don’t recommend 3 times a week for text, that’s too intrusive.

Monthly fortnightly text works fine.

And keep it to important events like an annual sale, or special content that you put out.

8. Referrals

There are 2 aspects to this:

a. Partnerships (B2B2C)

b. Customer referrals (B2C2C)

Partnerships work this way: your company -> works with another company -> recommends to customers

This either works as an affiliate model, or with influencers.

You typically pay them for every sale made.

The powerful thing about this is that you can have many partners and this is a highly scalable model.

You also have zero risk because you only pay per sale made.

Customer referrals work this way: your company -> sells to consumers -> recommends to their friends

This model works on the basis of friends being better closers than salespeople.

Offer a small incentive for them to share with their friends.

Most of the time, people don’t share because of the incentive, they recommend it because they want to be associated with your brand. So put in the effort to make your brand lovable.

You hear this all the time…

The riches are in the niches.

Yet, you also hear of people saying “screw niching down! Just be yourself!”

Which is correct?

Let’s think about this:

Suppose you walk past 2 stores.

One of the stores sells all kinds of products.

Ranging from groceries to toys, to clothes to fishing gear.

The second store sells only fishing gear and has all the types of equipment that a person needs to fish, from beginner to expert.

If you are starting out and have $300 to spend on some fishing equipment, which store would you think of going to first?

If you’re anything like me, you’d probably think of the second store right away.

Why?

Niche vs general

The first store is what we call a “general store”.

It’s not a store where you will expect the owner to have in-depth knowledge of the topic of interest (in this case, fishing).

You might say “Maybe you can chance upon a good steal”.

While that’s true, it’s not going to be at the top of your mind if you are ready to buy some serious fishing gear.

That’s the reason why having a niche makes you a stronger player in the field.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY way to niche down.

Another way to niche

Most people narrow down by thinking vertically.

That means:

Niche -> Fishing gear -> Fishing rods specialty

But what if I told you that there are other ways to do this?

1. Demographic niche: Fishing gear -> Fishing gear for kids

2. Lateral niche: Fishing gear -> big game fishing gear

3. Functional niche: Fishing gear -> Fishing gear + fishing education

How does this translate to a person who is on social media?

Say, you are interested in marketing.

1. Demographic niche: Marketing -> marketing to kids

2. Lateral niche: Marketing -> Marketing with words (copywriting)

3. Functional niche: Marketing -> Marketing services + marketing education

Bonus: I’ll add a 4th type: Style niche: Marketing -> Marketing with a punk image (think Liquid Death, plain water in a fancy skull image on its can.

But what if I get too niche?

That’s a common worry, but the answer should come from your audience than you.

You can’t understand your audience’s wants and needs by meditating.

You get out there and talk to them.

This means either DMing them for a friendly chat, calling them on the phone, or meeting them face-to-face at networking events.

Go with your elevator pitch.

When they ask you “What do you do?”

Tell them about what you have niche down to.

Then gauge their response.

As much as possible, I try to do it face-to-face.

Because the non-visual cues will give me a lot of information on where I should head.

Talk to at least 10 people.

You’ll realize soon that there is a running theme among these people.

If you want to be sure, go with 3 ideas and try out all of them.

You’ll be surprised at how much you learn from this exercise.

Monetize what you already love

The added benefit of talking to people and testing ideas is that you can test topics that you love.

This is important.

Don’t start a business that you can’t care less about.

Because you’ll simply be creating a side “job” for yourself.

And if you leave your job to go into that, you leave one hamster wheel to go to another.

That’s what most people stupidly do.

Don’t be the 99% who do that.

Even if it means you take a couple of weeks more to think about what you love, do it.

Because doing what you love makes it no longer work.

And when you’ve come to the point that you enjoy doing what you do, it’s hard to burn out.

In case you’re curious, I enjoy helping entrepreneurs of all stages get their business on track.

That’s why I do what I do.

And that’s why I was willing to give up a 6-figure position earlier this year to start all over again.

Because when you enjoy what you do, you’re playing on a different level.

So I encourage you to invest that time to find out what truly lights you up.

Align that with the problems that people need to solve.

That’s how a niche is found and created.

This edition was a little delayed because I’m at a speaker’s academy event here in Singapore.

Nonetheless, I can’t wait to share this week’s stuff with you all because I think it’ll help you answer and remove some blocks you might have on writing.

If you’re looking to attract customers, build a business and make money, writing is a skill that you can’t miss out on.

Communicate your ideas

Writing is not about fancy language, it’s about communicating what you think clearly.

You’re not aiming to write a best-selling novel, so your language skills don’t matter as much here.

Write to be understood.

You might ask me, “But what if I sound too technical and can’t simplify?”

That’s when the next point comes in handy…

Create a framework

When you go shopping, do you tend to find yourself picking up a more than one item because there is a promotional price for 2 pieces of the same thing?

In fact, they might not even need to give you a discount, but by simply put them in a set together, you might buy more of them.

I see this happen with clothing (a top matched with a nice bottom), or gadgets (a laptop with matching peripherals like a mouse).

In a similar fashion, if you package up your information in a way that people can see how they connect with one another, your audience is going to get the message so much faster and thank you for it.

For eg, in one of my post on X, I talked about the five parts (slight typo on the post btw) of the brain that will help you to learn faster.

Instead of saying just “5 parts of the brain essential for learning faster”, I called it PentaBrain:

You can see the post here if you want:

https://x.com/thehowietan/status/1640641211743576064 

And if you read the comments, you can tell that people really learnt something from it.

That’s one of the most satisfying moments for a creator: to be appreciated by your readers.

(So don’t forget to tell those whose writing you enjoy reading that you appreciate their work, it goes a long way).

Tell a story

Think of a time in your life when you found valuable lessons.

What were you doing during that time?

How were you feeling?

Was there a conversation? Or were you talking about something to yourself?

What was that moment of change? It could be a moment when you realize something or a turning point in your life.

For eg, back in 2019, I was holding my resignation letter in my hand.

I was ready to give it to my boss of 3.5 years, in a company that I have learnt so much from.

I have grown so much with them and learnt a great deal in this journey.

At the same time, I was also about to give up my $20,000/month paycheck by resigning.

I was feeling nervous and scared about what was about to happen after I quit.

I knew I had come to a point in my career when I felt that I wasn't growing anymore as a person.

While the money was great, I couldn't bear to be doing the same thing over and over again for years on end.

And I knew that if I had stayed on, it would have been forever before I would have the guts to start my own business.

And there I was, standing in front of my boss's office, wondering if I really was making the correct decision.

I had thought through it for a long time at that point, but still, it was the act of tendering my letter that made everything feel real.

And then I did it.

The letter was given and it was time to go.

I felt a huge relief lift off my shoulders.

It was as if a huge burden has been taken away.

Looking back, I'm glad I did, because I wouldn't have learned to build a business from $0 to 6 figures in a mere few months if I didn't try.

And I wouldn't be on this path to find what truly makes me feel fulfilled and happy with my professional life.

See what I did over there?

If you've managed to guess it, the change (or turning point) was when I gave that resignation letter to my boss.

Packing your idea into your story makes it more relatable, and easily remembered.

So think of your life's story moments.

Write them into a note book.

You will find them handy whenever you need to do a post or share your ideas with others.

Compound your habits

Writing regularly isn't about writing a long post everytime.

It's about building the habits, one small win at a time.

The way I started writing was to post 1 short post a day.

That's why X was my platform of choice to start.

Yours might be Linkedin, or a video platform like Instagram.

Each day, write between 1-3 lines, and just hit "post".

And don't worry too much about the number of likes you get.

In time, you will realize that some posts will hit better than others.

1 month later, progressed to doing 1 long post a week.

That's how I got into the habit of long posts.

I'd love to say that I have a knack for writing, but that's not the case.

And that's great news for you because if you're like me, you would know that this is achievable.

If you do have a knack for writing, that's even better.

On Creativity

Most people think that creativity is an innate talent: you either have it or you don't.

While I agree that some people might find it easier to generate great ideas, there are secrets that you can learn to generate creative ideas.

One of these secrets is knowing that creativity is a collision between 2 unrelated ideas.

For eg, the iPhone, in the late Steve Jobs' words, is a combination of a telecommunications device, a music player, and a web browser.

And if you're aware of the world's first augmented reality mobile game, Pokemon Go, it is a combination of mobile gaming with exploration of the real world.

Think of how you can merge an unrelated story into your post, or come up with a creative name for your own brand.

Some examples for inspiration: The Warrior Poet, The Tech Shaman.

It's not that difficult if you generate the ideas first, then try to find the link.

Start by generating 5 ideas of stories in your life.

Next, generate 5 ideas of lessons you can teach your audience.

Then match the stories to the lessons.

They don't have to make sense at first, but find your way after that to link them together.

It's simple once you try it.

Hope this week's edition was helpful.

If there's something you want to hear more of or if you have a question about the skills needed to build you own micro business, hit reply and let me know.

For now, have an awesome weekend.

Rooting for your success,

Howie

Before we begin today’s newsletter, I want to give a shoutout to my friend, Han, who has created a live cohort to help people build passive income by finding Cashflowing Rental Properties in the US.

I won’t do a recommendation unless I am sure that it is a great course. But having known Han for many years, and personally experienced his methods, I can say that he only teaches what works.

In fact, Han owns more than $2,000,000 worth of properties in his portfolio. Of course, this will be an investment-related course, so make your own decisions after understanding more.

You can check out Han’s free webinar here.

Now, back to our weekly content:

Micro businesses are the future of work.

You don’t need to be:

• Crazy rich
• A marketer
• In one location

Here are 10 micro business ideas that make $10,000/mth:

1) Life coach

Now I’m not suggesting you do this when you are a student fresh out of college.

But if you are a mid-career switcher, this is going to be great.

Guiding people who are a few years behind you, and helping them avoid your mistakes can bring immense enjoyment.

I have known people who used to be managers make amazing life coaches.

You don’t need a certificate to start, but it helps if you can gain experience.

Get in touch with friends and start helping a couple of them in their lives.

With their success, write a case study or ask for a testimonial.

You can then talk to others and tell them about the success stories.

Those who are interested will come to you.

2) Health coach

If you are a gym lover, this one’s for you.

Or you happen to love a sport that gives you an unfair advantage when it comes to nutrition and health knowledge.

Some areas that you might be good at:

• Muscle building
• Losing weight
• Eating healthy

I’m not saying that you go around selling cures, but you can help people with knowledge that you have tried and tested on yourself.

Talk to a personal trainer and understand more about their day to day.

Then talk to members where you workout to understand their struggles.

Write down all these struggles and find solutions to them.

If you are already a health enthusiast, making this a micro business on the side is a no-brainer.

3) AI automation agency

There’s no denying that AI is going to take over a ton of jobs.

I don’t know about you, but I would place myself in the winning side of this equation by learning how to utilize it.

For eg, you can help companies to create:

• A customer service chatbot for companies using Messengerbird

• AI-enchanced solutions using Zapier, to say, bridge ChatGPT with Slack and Google Sheets

• An AI chatbot appointment setter to help companies bring in more leads, using BotPress

Many of these tools do not require programming knowledge, since the tools are so visual (WYSIWYG).

4) Digital course

If you have something to teach, you can digitize it.

In fact, this is something I’m working on at the moment, a digital course that teaches people my domain of expertise (ie, growth marketing).

Need more ideas?

• Gardening

• Drawing

• Langauge

Create a basic course around something you enjoy doing, then write about it on social media.

Collect email addresses from those who enjoy learning from you.

And email them once a month, reminding them of your digital course.

This is perhaps the most scalable option.

5) Writing agency

You don’t have to LOVE writing, but you do need to know what you’re writing for.

Are you an expert in something technical?

You can be a technical writer.

Are you great at selling face-to-face?

Use the voice-to-text function on your mobile to create copy without typing.

If you know something well, you can learn to explain it in a way that someone else can understand.

You’re not writing to be graded, you’re writing to be understood.

Start writing, and tell me about the ideas that come to you.

6) Design agency

If you’re already a designer, doing it independently can be one of the most liberating ventures you can have.

I know a lot of designer friends who hate what they do because of the last-minute corrections they have to make, or unlimited changes they have to create.

If you find yourself stuck in a company that does not appreciate your creative talents, then perhaps it’s time to bring it somewhere else.

Or do it yourself.

Get word out there that you are accepting clients, and rely on a referral system to gain new clients.

Limit the number of changes up front, so that you manage expectations well.

Read about Jonathan Courtney, who built a 7-figure design agency from scratch.

Yes, it is possible.

7) No-code SaaS

The word SaaS might sound daunting, but you don’t have to build the next Shopify or Zoom.

Here are some ideas:

• An event management app

• Employee training and onboarding system

• A no-code data visualizer

Do a Google search, and you will find softwares like BravoApp, that helps you create an event management app without coding skills.

The truth is, whether you want to create, there might be a version of it out there that you can use as a minimum viable product (MVP).

Find it, create it, test it, improve, then sell it.

8) Paid newsletter

If you can commit to writing once a month, or every 2 months, you can create a paid newsletter that talks about the topic that you love.

I have friends who run paid newsletters in:

• Value investing
• Personal develop
• Writing

It’s not about being the best newsletter out there.

But it’s about knowing your readers so well that you become the best for them.

• Start by writing short posts on social media.
• Grow a writing habit
• Create an account with a newsletter platform like Beehiiv or Substack
• Then bring your writing habit to the newsletter as well.

The earlier you start, the more room you have for mistakes because no one will be laughing at you.

Start now.

9) Social media agency

Yep, this isn’t dead yet.

In fact, social media managers are more in demand than ever before.

Take a look at how much content is being put out there right now.

With more and more creators starting their business, you can be sure that they are going to need someone to manage all the different platforms for them.

Start by doing one platform well:

• Instagram
• Tik Tok
• Youtube

Be good at helping people turn their ideas into a video.

For short videos, you can simply use the app CapCut on your mobile (free) to create effects, cuts and captions.

The solution is right at your doorstep.

10) Marketing consultant

If you have been working for many years as a marketing manager or higher position, this might be an amazing idea.

While it might sound vague at first, but depending on your skillset, you can work as a consultant for specific functions in marketing, like:

• Branding
• Running traffic
• Marketing automation

Start reaching out to people you have work with in the past.

Hold a 30 min chat with them and say that you are not selling anything.

Take the time to understand what their problems are.

Write all these problems down on a note taking app.

Use their words as much as possible.

After talking to 10 people, you’ll start to spot patterns.

These are the areas that you can offer your expertise in to help solve problems in companies.

A consultant’s role is about helping to solve problems.

Do it well, and you can create huge impacts on your clients’ future.

10 types of micro-business ideas you can start:

1) Life coach
2) Health coach
3) AI automation agency
4) Digital course
5) Writing agency
6) Design agency
7) No-code SaaS
8) Paid newsletter
9) Social media agency
10) Marketing consultant

Apologies for the silence, I was attending a course, and then swamped with conducting my own cohort.

Grateful that it was a success!

Recently, a friend was talking to me about competitive advantage.

I personally believe that it is not the be all, end all for selling products.

Sure, this is a very popular notion that Shark Tank celebrities like to ask.

And for great reason too.

Most businesses looking for investors out there are not up to scratch.

So they are sifting through a whole sea of duds to find the diamonds.

But if you are a business owner instead of an investor?

Worrying about “competitive advantage” at the start of your journey isn’t going to do you any good.

In fact, if this is your first business, you are going to stall your actions and slow your learning.

As a new business owner, I often tell my students to focus on speed of execution.

The faster you decide on an idea and work on it, the faster you get to learn the lessons that you need.

Plus, whatever competitive moat you think you have at the start is likely occupied by some sharks in the water.

Not saying that you won’t ever have a complete blue ocean, but it takes time and experience to cultivate that acumen to spot opportunities.

The way I prefer to think about it is dominating a distribution channel.

Think about this:

Facebook isn’t the first social media.

But it started as an exclusive social media for Harvard students, then dominated the University market before opening to the world.

The so-called “network effect” is often said by people as Facebook’s competitive edge.

But did it start out that way at first?

Not at all.

Or how bout Microsoft?

It wasn’t the first operating system.

It wasn’t even Apple.

IBM was.

Microsoft started out by partnering with IBM and other computer makers to gain distribution for its software.

It eventually built up momentum so much that it reached escape velocity.

That’s why competitive advantage isn’t something that you magically start a company with.

It is something you can build with time.

I’ve even seen 8-figure businesses operate for years without a clear competitive advantage.

So if you’re starting a business now, do this instead:

1. Gain exposure fast (network, and master one way of driving traffic: ads, social content, SEO, email, etc)

2. Reinvest in making your product better each time.

3. Allow time to compound #1 and #2.

Your competitive edge with come as a matter of course, instead of you wrecking your head on forcing it out.

Hope you found this issue useful.

And as always, have an awesome weekend.

Rooting for your success,

Howie Tan

P.S. If you are currently running a 7-figure (or above) business and find yourself trapped in operations, check this out.

P.P.S. If you are a new solopreneur or want to start your own micro business on the side, reply this email with “TMB” and I will add you to the waitlist for the next Micro Business cohort. For more info, tap here.

2 days ago I came across a news article that said that Google’s parent company, Alphabet has cut a total of 12,000 jobs since January this year.

And a few weeks ago, Meta (Facebook) issued a hard mandate to end the work-from-home policy.

With such sweeping changes happening at big tech companies, it’s pretty clear that no job is 100% secure, and you’d never have true freedom with a 9-5.

The reason I created The Micro Business cohort is for this very reason.

Check it out if you haven’t, door closes on 22nd Sept, 11:59 pm EST.

Everyone should have a choice if they want.

To create something of their own.

To have independence and total control over their time.

Because relying on a job for retirement these days is simply not an ideal mindset.

For people who love their team, it gives them a backup plan in case something changes.

For people who dread their current job, it offers a chance to build something in their free time before taking the plunge.

I love this quote from a friend, “If you feel that entrepreneurship is risky. Think about just how secure your job really is.”

With a business, you get exposed to opportunities that you would not have otherwise found.

In just a few short months, I’ve already got:

• A real estate deal

• 3 consulting clients

• A potentially larger consulting deal

• A cohort that I’m running soon

These opportunities would never have presented themselves to me if I had stayed in my 9-5.

At the same time, the number of income sources ensures that I never go to zero if I lose one of them.

This is what I call risk mitigation.

A job only gives you one income source.

This means if you ever lose it for whatever reason, you start from zero.

Again, I have to stress that if someone has already a job and family to feed, I don’t recommend jumping headfirst into full-time entrepreneurship.

It starts with micro-commitments.

These commitments come from simply sharing your expertise online,

Accumulating opportunities to meet new people,

Gain initial customers from this journey on the side

Before dedicating your whole energy to it.

I say this not to make it sound difficult

I say it to remind you that everything has levels.

It’s like playing Super Mario in your childhood, clear stage 1-1 before going to 1-2, then 1-3, before 2-1.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, the game becomes fun.

And your winning momentum will take you beyond your expectations.

My mission is to get everyone their first win.

Have their offer ready to pitch to customers.

Once you have your first customer, you’ll know that this is real.

I remember my first dollar online:

It was a $7 ebook that I wrote to teach people the fundamentals of stock investing.

When I received that email from PayPal, it was surreal.

Even though $7 didn’t change my life right away, it shifted my mindset that making money online with my own two hands is as real as can be.

For students who have already made their first dollar before, closing your first customer will still be an exhilarating experience.

Every time I start a new project, the first sale gives the project the boost it needs.

I hope to celebrate these moments with more people as they make their first sales.

With that, they would make their first alternative source of income.

That gives them the choice to either stay on their job or leave when they are ready.

This to me is much less risky than holding a full-time job alone.

I hope that this email gives you a clearer idea of how you should be looking at risks.

Because in today’s ever-changing world, the only way to reduce risk is by having control over our own income and destiny.

I’ll leave you here with this “True wealth is about the number of choices you have instead of how high up the corporate ladder you climb.”

And as always, have an awesome weekend.

Rooting for your success,

Howie Tan

P.S. Here’s a picture from my travel in Japan. Took it while writing this newsletter edition.

Starting a business is a skill, and like any skill, you can plan it out.

Once you understand the steps needed, it becomes clearer what you should be focusing on at each stage.

There are 8 main stages for a new business

While this isn’t the end-all-be-all, it serves as a guide to those who need it.

Let’s get to it:

1) State your why

This is the most underrated.

But you need to list out your vision of the future before starting anything.

It might sound fluffy now, but when you are faced with challenges in your journey, this is what keeps you going.

Ask yourself:

• What matters to you?

• What do you dislike?

• What do you hope to make better?

Write this out as a statement that becomes your vision.

My vision statement: Create a world where financial, mental, and physical health are optimized.

It might sound broad, but that’s ok, you can always refine as you go.

And list out 5-7 values that are important to you.

For eg, some of my values are spontaneity, trust in others, authenticity.

2) List out your expertise

Look back at the jobs you used to have.

If you are a student, look back at the subjects in school you used to do.

List them on a piece of paper.

For each one, list 3 things that you like about each job.

And what you disliked about that job.

By the time you come to the third job listed, you should have a clear idea of what your strengths and limits are.

3) Measure the steps

Have you ever folded a paper plane?

When you first learn how to fold a paper plane, you need to learn how the folds look.

And how many folds it will take to fold the plane.

In business, you gotta do the same.

Estimate the number of steps needed.

I don’t mean going into the nitty gritty, but get the big picture right.

You don’t need your paper plane to be accurate to the millimetres for it to fly

But it needs to look like a plane.

4) Give it enough folds

Imagine you are a 3 year old, learning to fold a plane.

It might seem daunting at first.

Your first plane might even look like a crumpled piece of paper you wrote as a message to pass to your friend.

But if you give up on the first try, you will never learn if you are able to fold a paper plane that could fly.

You might as someone to teach you, maybe an older sibling or your parent.

And as you go through each fold, you imagine what the finished paper plane looks like.

When it is complete, you trust that you have given it the number of folds it needs to soar across your living room.

Then you launch.

5) Measure and check

Once you’ve launched your business, it’s time to measure the performance.

Just like a sports coach

You assess:

• What went well

• What didn’t

• What your next steps are

Measuring and checking your performance makes sure that you are always building on top of your previous performance.

6) Relentless execution

I’m not a fan of overworking

But I’m a fan of going really hard when you know what you’re passionate about and the exact direction to head.

Great results = Passion x Direction x Execution

Imagine you are a marathon runner:

When you don’t know where your final destination is, you’ll be expending energy trying to find out where to go.

And if you go too fast, you end up with lots of wasted energy.

But if someone is pointing you the direction, all you have to do is double up and go right for the prize.

So once you have your direction, execute like a mad person.

7) Frontend, backend

The first product that your customers buy from you is not the end.

Stay in touch with them and help them.

Let’s say they start at level 1 (beginner) with you,

6 months later, they have reached level 5 (intermediate).

Now they have a new set of problems to solve.

Then you realize that many other students also get stuck at level 5 for some reason.

If you have been paying attention, then you would be able to come up with a level 5 product to help them.

You might say “why not come up with something so they can solve all their problems at once?”

That’s because everything is a journey.

You won’t have enough capacity to fully teach everything in one sitting.

There are nuances and adaptations that need to be understood.

That’s also why giving value in exchange for money this way isn’t as sleazy as you think.

8) Acquisition

If done right, some businesses can be sold.

There are market places with buyers interested to buy different types of businesses:

Agencies, consultancies, newsletters

You sell the processes and the customers of the business to the next person.

Why would you do this?

Getting the cash upfront might help you start a new venture.

Or you might feel like it’s time to try something new.

There are many reasons.

Even if you don’t intend to sell your business in the future, it’s great to know that there is an option to if you ever want to.

There you have it, the 8 steps for starting a business right up to the point where it’s ready to be sold:

1) State your why
2) List out your expertise
3) Measure the steps
4) Give it enough folds
5) Measure and check
6) Relentless execution
7) Frontend, backend
8) Acquisition

I’m in a semi holiday here in rural Japan. Spending the time with the family while working in front of the sea once in a while (when the sun isn’t too glaring).

I hope you’ve found this issue useful.

And as always, have an awesome weekend.

Rooting for your success,

Howie

Today is my 38th birthday.

I have slogged it out at a 9-5 for years and finally called it quits.

And because I did, the past year has been insanely liberating.

I tasted true freedom.

Now I want the same for you.

And these are the 10 steps I took to get to where I am now:

1) Create a fixed workspace

I love working out of coffeeshops

But having a fixed workspace at home allowed me to get “in the zone” whenever I need.

Psychologists call this “priming”

It means that you associate a certain space in your home work being productive.

Kinda like how hypnotists work to get you in a state of mind.

You know how if you smell your favorite food, you will start to feel hungry?

You don’t even need to see the food.

Your mind has associated the smell with the food

So much so that even if someone creates a similar smell without using that food

You will start feeling hungry because of the association.

The fixed workspace works the same way.

When you associate a place in your home with the feeling of being “in the zone”

Your mind switches to that mode whenever you are there.

That why it is best that you don’t make your bedroom your workspace.

If you have to, then make it a location away from your bed.

2) Define my constraints

At that time, I just had a newborn.

That means that I can’t be working whenever I wanted at home.

The baby cries

Nappy duties

And so on.

So I defined my constraints to work with the time that I have.

Also, my wife needed rest after giving birth, so I needed to be flexible.

So the project I do should be possible to continue even with a mobile phone.

I also defined how much I wanted to spend on my business.

No more than $2000.

What this does is that it stops you from throwing money at problems.

This leads me to the next point:

3) Calculate my savings

Before going into solorpeneurship, I made sure that I have a runway

That means an amount of savings that will help me survive for months while my business is in the works.

I gave myself a 6 months run way.

If you have more than that, I suggest that you set them in another bank account

Out of sight, out of mind

6 months is long enough for you to have time to execute.

But short enough to create a sense of urgency.

If you don’t have a sense of urgency

Your mind will switch to cruise mode and procrastination will take over.

4) Planned my routine

Since my son was newborn at that time

He was waking up every other hour at night

For feeding and nappy change.

I decided to work at night because I realized that:

• Ideas tend to come during the night for me

• My customers were mainly in the US (I’m based in Singapore, so time difference)

• I can do the feeding and nappy duties in between so that my wife gets a few straight hours of sleep.

Yea, parenting ain’t easy, haha.

But it can be done if you are creative with what you have.

5) Wrote out my goals

Goals are great if used correctly.

If you are staring at them everyday

You might get anxiety.

But if you set them and put them up on a wall

It becomes your business north star.

Some goals can be:

• Revenue

• How many lives impact

• The type of problems to solve

Set them and set a timeframe that you will get them done.

I had a 3 year goal and a 5 year goal.

Did I hit all of them?

No.

But did it keep me on track moving forward?

It sure as hell did.

6) Wrote my values

Yea I know, some of you might find this weird.

Values???

The reason I did this was that there came a period when I felt that I wasn’t sure why I did business.

Sure it makes money

It gives me freedom.

But what do I REALLY want?

What’s REALLY important for me?

That’s why I wrote me values down.

Till today, it’s stuck in front of me on a wall:

• Do things with a passion

• Be adventurous

• People first

• Move fast

7) Find a method

There is a million ways to make money.

You aren’t restricted by your abilities.

You are restricted by your imagination.

While I chose e-commerce at that time

I don’t recommend that if you don’t have any marketing background.

Some ideas are:

• Writing

• Design

• Social Media Management

These are all services you can offer without needing years of experience.

You will need practice.

One of the best ways to get practice is to offer the service for free or at a low cost.

Once you have done the work

You will be able to use it as a case study or sample to show others and charge for it.

This way, you will have the chance to improve if your client doesn’t like the work.

And there’s no chance you’d underdeliver since you're charging low or nothing.

8) Find a mentor

Having a mentor gives you exceptional leverage.

You get access to feedback

Learn from their experience

And broaden your network.

If it’s a group training, you gain access to others who are also serious enough to pay for their training.

I enrolled in a group coaching back then as well

And it accelerated my success.

Most importantly, I learnt from others in the group as well.

That is why I’m such a strong believer of having a mentor when you’re starting out.

If you’re looking to start your own micro business

Or have trouble getting off the ground

I am starting the Micro Business Cohort at the end of this month.

Check it out here if you haven’t.

Calls are recorded in case you can’t make it for any call.

You can also submit questions beforehand, so that we can answer them directly in the calls.

9) Go for walks

Our physical bodies are made to move

Not being chained to a seat.

I go for 2-3 walks in the day for 2 reasons:

• It relieves my back pain from sitting too long.

• Ideas come to you as you walk.

I can’t explain in a few words why the second one happens

So that will be another thread of its own.

If there’s enough interest, I will write about it.

My walks are 1-2 hours long.

And I call them “creativity walks”.

These are time blocks catered for generating ideas.

• How to build my business

• Content/Ad ideas

So these time blocks aren’t treated as break time.

Because I will have my phone in hand

Ready to capture ideas as they come.

You’d be surprised at how much it comes to you.

10) Meet people

Ideas don’t just come to you alone.

It comes to you when you do different activities

One of the most powerful activity is talking to others.

If you can, meet physically.

If not, a video call can also do wonders.

Meet people purposefully to talk about business

Not to sell to them

But to talk about strategy

Exchange ideas

Help them with their problems while finding solutions to yours.

It’s hard to define the exact ROI of this activity

But I can tell you that some of my best ideas come from talking to people.

I found my product idea this way

Refined my marketing strategy

And simply gained more motivation to go to the next level.

10 important steps to magnify solopreneurship success:

1) Create a fixed workspace
2) Define my constraints
3) Calculate my savings
4) Planned my routine
5) Wrote out my goals
6) Wrote my values
7) Find a method
8) Find a mentor
9) Go for walks
10) Meet people

(only 24hrs left for those who want to get in on early bird prices)

“What mistakes am I making?”

That's some of the most common questions I get asked.

A lot of people think that they can join a course

Do nothing

And boom

They get a $100,000 business.

It doesn't work like that.

There will be gaps in your knowledge.

You will have questions.

Which is why I catered an option for 1-1 consult on my Micro Business cohort.

It's going for a steal right now, a fraction of what I charge for regular consults. (damn my wife might kill me for this)

The whole point is to make sure that you get that missing piece of your skill puzzle.

Most people have gone for the 1-1 option right now, but if you just want the standard cohort, that gives you all the material you need.

The 1-1 is an accelerator to success.

The cohort allows you to build out that Micro Business before you leave your job.

That is how we create financial stability before leaving our 9-5.

And I said "we" because I have done it.

So it's not some airy-fairy theory I'll share with you.

It's time-tested, proven strategies that will kickstart your micro business journey.

Btw, we only have 24 hrs left before prices go up.

If you want to lock in your early bird price, tap here to get it now.

You don’t want to leave your 9-5 until you have a plan.

That’s what The Micro Business is created for. 

It’s an entire method for building your exit plan so you have a proven business before you leave your job.

We start from $1000/mo, then $2000/mo, until you replace your income.

48 hours left before this ticket to freedom increases in price.

Click here now to accelerate your success.

I'm always a great believer in mentors. They accelerate your learning and point out stuff that you might have never considered.

I'm often selective of my mentors and often observe the content that they put out first before engaging them.

Once I've learned a skill, I make sure I own it.

My mentors will kill me if I have never evolved my learning.

Thus, my experience is an amalgamation of $30,000 worth of courses and mentorship.

(That means what I'm charging for the cohort is a steal)

And because I am so selective myself, I make sure that the cohort that I launch is going to give the greatest value to my students.

That's why I am limiting the number of slots.

Once the slots are taken up, it will be stopped.

The reason is simple, with a limited cohort, everyone gets a chance to ask questions.

I am also better able to cater to your niche or help you find one.

I use the micro business method to make sure that the business you are building increases in income but is limited in costs.

Click here to find out more about the method.

(Early bird prices end after 25 Aug!)

(So, the link didn’t go out in the previous email. I apologize, and thank all of you who reached out to tell me about it! This will be a limited cohort, so I will close the applications once all the seats are taken. Here’s the email again, and see the link below)

Some of you have been asking me about a cohort, and I’m proud to say that it is now live!

As you know, I normally charge businesses $1000/hr for consultation.

But my mission is to make the journey of new solopreneurs as smooth as possible.

So these first five days will be well subsidized.

Early bird access price starts today, and prices go up after Friday, 25 Aug.

After this, I don’t know when I will be opening up for a cohort again, because I am simply too busy with client work while balancing other projects and family life (love it).

So if you’re ready to kickstart your micro business journey and build it on the side, click here to get on board now.

See ya!

Howie Tan

Some of you have been asking me about a cohort, and I’m proud to say that it is now live!

As you know, I normally charge businesses $1000/hr for consultation.

But my mission is to make the journey of new solopreneurs as smooth as possible.

So these first five days will be well subsidized.

Early bird access price starts today, and prices go up after Friday, 25 Aug.

After this, I don’t know when I will be opening up for a cohort again, because I am simply too busy with client work while balancing other projects and family life (love it).

So if you’re ready to kickstart your micro business journey and build it on the side, click here to get on board now.

See ya!

Howie Ts

Most people leave one rat race and go into another.

They start a business that:

Takes 14 hours of their day

Doesn't interest them

Ties them to client work

If the intention is to grind it out for a few months before developing a system that is automated, that's understandable.

But most people start without a game plan.

With that, they end up fighting one fire after another.

And before they know it, 14 hour day become weeks

And weeks become months.

It's not the entrepreneur's fault.

It's the nature of starting a business.

There are many unpredictable factors that will affect it.

Sometimes you get clients that you don't enjoy working with

And you end up having to do it simply because you don't know how to say no.

If you want to choose to do only things that you're passionate about

It starts with choosing the correct method and business model.

1. The most important time block

Look at your calendar and start by plotting out:

Your sleep time.

Wait what?

You read it right.

Most entrepreneurs sleep as and when they feel ready to, which means that if they don't feel satisfied with the work they did that day, they sacrifice sleep.

I've heard of so many entrepreneurs (especially new ones) going to bed at 3 am then forcing themselves to wake up at 7 am because they feel guilty not working.

I respect that work ethic.

And you are passionate about the stuff that you are building.

But compound this "sleep debt" over months and years, and you'll end up with health problems.

How do you enjoy the fruits of your labor if you are bedridden?

Work hard, and stay smart.

Plot out at least 7-8 hrs of sleep and you still have 16 hrs left.

2. Other important stuff

Next, I don't jump right into planning my work hours right away.

I plan out stuff like:

- Time for my wife

- Time for my kid

- Time for self-care

- Meal times

- Time to call my parents

If you're a workaholic like me, you are likely to do work every waking hour if you don't plan these things out.

They don't need to be hours and hours, enough will be sufficient.

For me, I plan most of my weekends to spend time with family, so I'm ok with less contact on weekdays.

3. Choose the correct business method

To maximize your chances of business success, you don't just need a good business model, you need a good method of doing business.

That means the tactics and strategies you use are important.

Over the past few months, there have been many people who came to me asking about different types of business skills:

- How to attract the correct client

- How to say no to the wrong one (it's an art)

- How to write content that gets people to contact you

- How to create a service or product that people want

- How to structure the business so you only work a few hours a day

I answered a number of them but realized that in order to impact more people, I needed a way for people to learn together.

That's why I created "The Micro Business" cohort.

It is a live course meant to teach people how to really build that business that will free up their time.

I have personally used this method to achieve a $5000/month income while working limited hours.

I have not announced this anywhere else because this is meant as the soft launch period.

If you are interested, check out the cohort by tapping here.

Because in newsletters, I have only limited time and capacity to share in-depth experience, a cohort was the answer to be able to dedicate more time to helping people achieve their own goals.

4. Learn to write content

You need to understand that content that:

- Get likes

- Get comments

- Attract people to DM you

- Attract customers to DM you

Are very different types of content.

Each one of these serve a different purpose

And you need to first understand that there is a difference before you can create each one.

Let me explain:

Psychologically, people who liked or commented would have closed the loop in their minds, knowing that they have "done something".

That's why as you build you digital business, you may realize that people who buy often don't engage much on your posts.

That's because they are busy tapping through your profile and going through your landing page content.

When they are done buying, they put their phone or laptop aside.

You don't often have people who come back to like your post because that serves no purpose to them anymore.

5. Iterate and ask questions

Many of us think that we need to be really smart to ask the "correct questions".

But in reality, you often don't know what you don't know before you take the first step.

That's why I always encourage people who learn from me to ask questions whenever they feel the need to.

Because it clarifies the doubts that they have in their minds.

And that will be a big factor in your success because that's the only way that your coach will be able to know what's in your mind.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

― Albert Einstein

Now I will be stopping the newsletter here today, it's a little shorter than usual because I'm off to speak at an event.

I hope that this issue has given you some food for thought on your own business plans.

Best regards,

Howie Tan

P.S. If you are an existing business doing $500,000 in topline revenue and above, I offer 1on1 dedicated scaling consulting service.

Tap here to DM me “Scale”on X to chat more.

Those of you who have been following me on social media might know that I have once brought a company from $100k a month to $2 million a month.

It was one hell of a journey and the lessons learned continue to help me in my business and my clients as well.

Today, I want to break down the top 10 lessons I’ve distilled from this case study.

Whether you are a new solopreneur or an experienced business owner, I hope you find these lessons useful:

1) Systemize it

Whether you are a one-person business or a team of 50, make time to document what you have created.

Part of the reason why I write is to document my learnings.

I also plan out for anything that is larger scale, so that I can revisit it when I feel lost.

For eg, I use a diagram to draw out all the revenue producing activities that I do.

This gives me a bird’s eye view of the business.

I also did this for that organization, so that we can all see which areas are leaking, and which can be magnified.

Draw a diagram like this is like drawing out the game plan for your basketball/soccer team.

You know who or what activities are meant for defence, and what are meant for offence.

2) 2 main focus

Businesses have 2 big parts:

A. Something that can be purchased (a product)

B. A way to get eyes on the product (traffic)

Focusing on these parts is like putting a magnifying glass over them.

You learn to create more products or tweak current ones until you get one that the market loves.

And you find a platform that will give you traffic to send to the product.

Some traffic sources include: affiliates, paid ads, shoutouts, influencers, email, social media content and more.

Traffic sources take time to master, so pick one and master it.

If you want a free traffic source, social media content and post-paid affiliates are great.

If you have the budget to pay upfront, paid ads are powerful.

The biggest traffic sources I’ve helped to scale at this company were affiliates and email.

For my own business in 2019, it was paid ads.

Now, it will be social media content.

3) Rinse, repeat

Business is a straightforward process of repeating what works.

I recommend doing this to a level that you can self-sustain before trying out other things like pet projects or charity.

It’s just like in a plane when the oxygen masks drop:

Save yourself first before saving others.

Cash to a business is like blood.

Learn to generate it asap so that you have the buffer to create more impact.

Once you’ve found a product that sells, find ways to increase the number of people who see it.

Then create other products that are complementary.

For eg, if your muscle building program works well, consider creating a fat loss program for people to reduce their body fat while building their body.

I won’t jump into another category, say gardening, because it will be harder to offer it to your existing fanbase.

4) 10% resources

I always keep a 10% rule for experimentation of anything that is new for the business.

It can be a new traffic source, a different category of product, or even a new business model.

Small and medium sized businesses should have a habit of innovating.

It is only when we stop trying new things that will stop us from achieving a new level of success.

10% allows us to place bets on ideas that might have smaller success rates, but win big if something works.

Because these 10% activities fail more often than succeed, the more important part to monitor here is what we learn from them.

Plus, ask yourself how to continue to minimize failure as you go.

That’s how I have managed to find new ways to accomplish goals with the team

And I have also applied it to my own work to experiment with new things like a new app or ai that is just released.

5) Expose yourself

Network, a lot.

This is to get your name out there.

Get people knowing you, make sure they know what you do or what product you have.

And get to know them.

If you are looking for affiliates, this is the way to find where they are.

If you are running paid ads, you might als find others doing the same

And you’ll be able to talk strategy with them.

There are many other types of resources that you will find:

Mentors, software partners, freelance help, and more.

I cannot stress enough the importance of this.

Access is what often gets you to the next level.

Learn the nuance of the community to be included fast.

6) Don’t assume, test

As you get to know people, you’ll realize that there are many business owners who like to help others.

So you might receive advice from different people.

Always keep an open mind.

But never take what people say as gospel truth when it comes to strategies.

It’s not to say people are lying to you.

It’s because people tend to share what works for them

But that does not mean it will 100% work for you.

Business is much more nuanced.

The same advice can turn out different because of execution, interpretation, your business model, even your own style of writing.

Take the advice and test it right away.

Give it a clear shot.

If it does not work out, move on.

If it does turn out well, thank the person and acknowledge their help.

That is how you reciprocate relationships.

What goes around comes around.

7) Profitability of email

Nupp, email isn’t dead.

In fact, it is often the most profitable channels in businesses.

That’s because once you have an email address

It cos very little to send marketing messages out.

Many businesses that I have worked with often don’t have expertise on optimizing their email list.

This means they are just leaving money on the table when all they have to do is to equip themselves with the relevant skills.

Email can make up as much as 30% of physical product-based business sales.

For digital products and personal brands, it can be even more.

8) Stories make impact

Data tell

And stories sell.

Your messages are like handwritten notes on a piece of paper.

Stories are like the glue that’s applied,

So that the paper sticks onto your audience minds.

At some point in your sales message

Tell your audience why you created your product.

Tell them stories of those who have tried what you have created.

Stories allow people to relate.

It has been the mode of communication since ancient times.

So you can imagine how deeply ingrained they are in our human brains.

Use stories and you’ll find your audience understanding much more of your words.

9) Partnerships are scalable

I used to think that finding partnerships like affiliates aren’t going to bring you very far.

Until I helped the company unleash this traffic source.

And that’s where most of the growth in their revenue came from.

There were other traffic sources too, but partnerships changed the entire company’s trajectory.

That’s the reason why I’m such a strong believer of forging partnerships with affiliates if you can.

But it also takes time to form those relationships

So be sure to have a balance and don’t structure it in a way that you can’t keep up.

Once you start ignoring them, you’ll find them ghosting you.

10) Gain traction then narrow down

It’s common to hear people preach about zeroing in to something with laser focus.

Yes, that is an element of success.

But let’s not forget that at first you need to try a variety of ways before knowing what to zero into.

Let’s say I’m starting digital marketing today

I will read up about all kinds of activities related to this field:

- Copywriting

- Ads

- Funnels

- Design

- Content

And so on.

This gives me breadth of knowledge to understand how everything comes together.

Then I will pick the activity that will give me the biggest leverage based on my strengths and the advantages of the activity.

That’s when I will go deep.

So it’s like a T shape:

Go broad first

Then go deep.

10 crucial lessons I learned from helping a company grow 20x:

1) Systemize it
2) 2 main focus
3) Rinse, repeat
4) 10% resources
5) Expose yourself
6) Don’t assume, test
7) Profitability of email
8) Stories make impact
9) Partnerships are scalable
10) Gain traction then narrow down

P.S. If you are a business owner between $500k-$3m in annual revenue and are looking for ways to scale your business, I do 1-1 customized consulting to grow and sytemize businesses. Hit reply on this email or DM me on Twitter (X) with “Scale” in the subject line to chat more.

There are 2 pieces of the business puzzle, you need:

1. Something that can be purchased

2. Ways to get it seen by people

We talked about one way of getting seen by people in the last newsletter: using emails.

Today, we’ll cover how to create a service or a product that your customers can’t say no to.

We’ll cover 10 important aspects.

Ready?

Let’s get into it:

1. Idea generation

Creating ideas is a muscle.

You need to train it every day

Put in the reps so that it becomes better.

Do this:

Every single day, come up with 3 good ideas of how you can create something to sell.

It can be a service or a product (digital or physical).

Do this for 30 days and you'll be surprised at how many ideas you can generate.

Here's the catch, don't start judging your ideas.

And if you have trouble coming up with 3 ideas

Tell yourself you need to come up with 5 ideas.

It's not the ideas that is difficult.

It's the perception that you have to come up with ideas that hold you back.

2. Why people buy

Some experts say that humans buy on emotions and then justify using logic.

I disagree.

In fact, I believe that people buy based on 3 things:

• Emotion

• Logic

• Urgency

Let's take the iPhone for eg:

The reason why Apple iPhones sell so well is because:

a. Apple has die-hard fans (emotion)

b. iPhones give you access to the internet + a ton of apps (logic)

c. They often sell out fast at launch (urgency)

If you sell JUST based on emotions or logic

It will still sell

But you're not likely to get very far.

If you combine the 2

You can crush your competition and sell a lot of what you create.

3. Mechanism

A mechanism is what helps your customer get to where they want to be.

For physical products, it can be a new ingredient.

For digital products, it is a special method you developed that no one else can imitate.

You need to talk about this in your copywriting.

It sets you apart

You don’t compete on building a better mousetrap.

Compete on building something different.

4. The 2 big emotions

Emotions play a big part in influencing people to buy from you.

In fact, they are a big part of our daily actions (whether we like it or not).

There are 2 primary motivations you should take note of.

People will move:

• Toward things that give them pleasure

• Away from things that cause them pain

Think about what your audience aspires to be.

For eg, I used to sell parenting products and parents aspire to see their kids do well in life.

And what problems they face every day.

For eg, Parents face the pain of random tantrums that drive them up the wall.

By understanding these emotions, you can create something that not just educates the children, but help kids regulate their tantrums as well.

Do this and your customers will not just pay you, they will become your raving fans too.

5. Prices

I used to think that reducing prices are the only way to go.

Until c*vid hit and my shipping prices skyrocketed.

While, I’ve already scaled my business to a good level before that

I was faced with a dilemma:

How can I keep up with the rising prices?

I paid thousands of dollars to consult people.

The unanimous answer I got was to raise my own selling prices.

I was shocked.

Wouldn’t that kill the demand for my product?

Since I had no other choice

I raised the prices and tweaked my copywriting and product images to give a more premium feel to it.

To my surprise, it worked.

Someone even posted on forums that they “aspire” to get one of my products.

That post alone got my business a number of sales.

So the lesson here is never to short change yourself in terms of pricing.

Charge what you’re worth and communicate your value.

Reducing prices and offering discounts is easy

But it’s never healthy to make it a habit.

6. Validation

Before you pour thousands of dollars or hours to build something to sell

How do you know that people even want it?

There are a couple of ways:

• Ask your audience

• Micro testing

Your audience is the best at telling you what they want.

So if you have a brand, send out a poll to ask.

If you don’t, then do a micro test:

Create a sales page and run traffic to it.

Great offers often get good reception fast.

If the product takes off, fulfil the item.

If it doesn’t, you can still fulfil anything that people buy, then move on to the next product.

7. Research

There are different ways to research and I will share 2 big ways.

a. Look for youtube videos on the topic or product you want to sell.

If you find at least 5 videos on your topic with 5000 views and above

There’s likely a good growing market.

b. Poll your audience.

Write a post or email about the product you want to sell.

Then post it and ask if your audience is interested.

You’d be surprised at how much they’ll tell you.

8. Ease of implementation

If your audience think that it’s going to take a lot of effort to achieve what they want

They’ll not buy from you.

We naturally gravitate towards the easier sounding solution.

Now I’m not telling you to go crazy on your claims

Quite the opposite.

Make the goal so achievable that you have confidence you can easily get them there.

Then tell it to them.

Why does this work?

Everytime someone spends money with you

There is a perceived risk.

If they think that it’s risky because the goal sounds unattainable

They’re not going to have confidence in you.

In a market where everyone is claiming to make people lose 30 pounds in 2 weeks

Set an attainable of losing their first 10 pounds.

9. Overdelivering

Now you might think that you’ll have less customers if your copy is too realistic.

That true…for the short term.

What’s going to happen is

If you underpromise and overdeliver

You’ll have customers who stay with you for life.

Because you have proven that you will go above and beyond what you sell.

The way to do this

Is by being good at setting expectations on your copy.

Then doing more than you have promised.

Say you promised a pack of 4 coaching calls.

You can overdeliver by giving a bonus call.

Or providing referrals that help your customer with their business.

Your game, my friend

Is to gain a lifetime customer.

10. Ascension

Say, you are a running coach

When you have a lifetime customer

You will be able to help them with bigger problems.

Say a customer comes to you to fix their running posture.

They might come back again to take up an overall health coaching package.

Or they might want access to a whole network of runners who are smart and understand the intricacies of being an avid runner.

You might also find that some of your customers are CEOs.

Because you have build your business

You can now help them in aspects of their business that you have specific knowledge on.

The opportunities are endless.

Always think of how you can ascend the value you provide.

Your customers will ascend with you.

10 steps I used to create products that make money and impact customers:

1. Idea generation
2. Why people buy
3. Mechanism
4. Delivery method
5. Prices
6. Validation
7. Research
8. Ease of implementation
9. Overdelivering
10. Ascension

Last week, we talked about copywriting.

That’s the skill that can turn you into a walking 6-figure business if you do it decently.

If you want to level this up,

Email marketing is the way to go.

This is a skill that if you master it, will allow you to charge $2000/mo as a service, just sending emails daily.

I say this from experience as I have worked with a number of great email marketers.

Yet, it remains as one of the most underrated skill around.

Let’s break down everything you need to know about how to write emails that pull in cash.

(and no, email is far from being dead)

1. Content emails

If you've ever subscribed to someone's newsletter, you will know that it's often a weekly or twice-a-week send-out.

The objective of a newsletter is to educate your audience and to provide value.

So don't go selling your wares here.

There are 4 ways to provide value:

• Give an Analysis

• Inspire the Audience

• Give Actionable Tips

• Tell a Relatable Story

Long or Short email?

It doesn't matter.

What matters is that it's interesting to your audience.

Here are 2 newsletters you can take inspiration from:

• 5 Bullet Friday by Tim Ferris

• 321 Thursday by James Clear

2. Subject lines

This is one of the most important parts of your email.

Without a strong subject line

Your email never gets opened.

If want example subject lines to practise on

Go here:

https://twitter.com/thehowietan/status/1681272661580603393?s=20

Also, keep in mind your email Open Rates

You can see this in your email system.

That refers to how many people open your email out of all of those whom you sent the campaign to.

Anything above 25% is good

Below 20% is a red flag

(You can get banned from your provider)

As a general rule

I recommend keeping within 30-35% open rates for newsletters.

If you can achieve 40-50% that will be amazing

3. Deliverability

This refers to how often your email lands in the main inbox of your audience.

You don't want to be in the "promotions" tab

You never want to be in spam.

The biggest thing you want to watch out for is the Open Rate that was mentioned in #2.

And there are 2 immediate ways to impact open rates:

a. Write strong subject lines that intrigue people to open your email

b. Sending to more recent openers.

There are others, but I'll focus on these two.

You can understand (a) in #2.

And for (b), send your email to people who have most recently opened your emails for a few days.

This will immediately improve your open rates.

Do this for a few more send-outs before increasing it to more people who have opened longer ago.

That means if you send it to people who have opened it for 30 days first, move on to sending to people who have opened for 60 days next.

This is a maneuver to increase your deliverability fast.

4. Segement by interest

This means you split your email audience up based on what they are interested in hearing about.

One way to do it is send them a questionnaire when they join your email list.

Tell them you want to make sure that you send them content that they love, and give them options to choose from.

For eg, if it's business people, the options can be: marketing, operations, finance, and so on.

This is one underrated trick that is often used to create raving fans.

Because the more relevant your content

The more likely the people you are sending them to will love it.

5. Welcome emails

Having a series of welcome emails is like having a door person welcoming each of your new guests.

These get sent out automatically every time someone gets on your email list.

If you don't have time to do a series of emails, the first one is the most important.

Tell your subscribers:

• A little more about you

• What they should expect from your content

• To reply to you so that they always receive your email in their inbox

6. Post-purchase

If you have a physical store, you would say "thank you" to the person who just made a purchase.

A post-purchase email does just that.

You give them a big thank you and remind them of the smart decision they made buying from you.

A well-written post-purchase email makes a happy customer.

You make them feel appreciated and acknowledged.

7. Vital stats

Alright, this headline is a playful one.

But there are some numbers you should pay attention to on emails:

a. Open Rate

b. Click-through-rate

c. Unsubscribe rate

Open rate refers to how many people has opened your email.

Click-through rate refers to how many people clicked on a link within your email content.

Unsubscribe rate is how many people have said they don't want to receive any more of your emails.

These stats will give you a gauge of how well your audience like your emails.

8. The PS line

If you have a product or service that you offer and you don't want to sound sleazy, this is where you talk about them.

Because it's right at the end of your email, it comes across as a soft-pitch, "btw, here's what I have to offer".

9. Launch emails

If you have a product or a course to sell, this is the type of emails you'd want to send out.

It's a series of emails that you will send one day after another

With the purpose of selling your product.

Why is it a whole series of emails?

That's because, before this, you would have offered lots of value to your audience in your newsletters.

So sending a series of sales-related emails isn't going to hurt you a bunch.

In fact, your audience might thank you for it.

During a sales launch, there will be people who are sitting on the fence

Thinking about whether they should take you up or not.

Your purpose is to give them different perspectives of your product.

And to remind them of when you are closing your sales.

Your final 2 emails should be your "cart closing" emails.

And these would often be the ones making the most revenue.

10. Reviving unresponsive subs

You will have people who stop reading your emails.

Don't be sad.

It's part of life.

When your subscribers become unresponsive

Send them a couple of emails reminding them of why they signed up.

Give them a link to unsubscribe if they no longer want in.

I know it sounds scary

But believe me, this will make your list so much cleaner.

A cleaner list gets into the inbox more often.

It's what we call "List Hygiene".

10 steps to use email to pull in cash:

1. Content emails
2. Subject lines
3. Deliverability
4. Segmentation
5. Welcome series
6. Abandon cart
7. Post-purchase
8. Customer win-back
9. Re-engagement email
10. Stats monitoring

I hope that this has been an eye-opening one for you.

And as always, have a great weekend.

Rooting for your success,

Howie Tan