Last year, my husband and I were living in Europe—the full digital nomad lifestyle! In October of 2016, after a grand adventure, we settled back down in San Diego, California.
Not only is the weather amazing, but it’s a real hub for online entrepreneurs, including one of my long-time favorites, Pat Flynn.
If you haven’t heard of Pat, check out SmartPassiveIncome.com, where he’s been giving away valuable content for years and even publishing his earnings and expenses each month for transparency so that his audience can learn from what’s truly working.
Spoiler alert, he’s profited $1.2 million over the past year. Profited. Not. A. Typo.
Just after returning to the U.S., I was able to finagle my way—by the sheer power of networking and follow-up—into a small, local group meeting each month lead by Pat.
On March 20th of this year, our small core group threw an event the night before Social Media Marketing World kicked off, attracting over 400 entrepreneurs including some other big names like:
- John Lee Dumas of EOFire
- Kate Erickson of Kate’s Take
- Michael O’Neal of Solopreneur Hour
- Jared Easley of Podcast Movement
- Cliff Ravenscraft of Podcast Answerman
- Whitney Lauritsen of Eco-Vegan Gal
- Allison Melody of the Food Heals podcast
- Alycia Darby of Win A Pageant
- Randy Zimnoch of Realty National
- Darren Rowse of ProBlogger
…to name just a few!
The Recent Meeting
Then, just last week, we held a BYO-lunch meeting that attracted about 25 local entrepreneurs and turned into a great mastermind with some sage advice from our fearless leader.
Since you couldn’t be there, I wanted to share some takeaways that I got to keep you in the know with what’s working for online entrepreneurs.
1. That Facebook Live Is So Hot Right Now!
If you’re already doing live videos streamed to your Facebook business page, great! Keep doing it. Facebook is giving serious preference to live videos.
What’s more, the insights from the engagement you have on your videos can give you extra leverage. You can see what is working from the content you are sharing by analyzing the statistics around likes, comments, shares, time viewed, and when people stopped watching.
Pat suggested to look at the data to see when you had the most activity, splice a segment out, and then re-purpose that clip on other platforms or even as a Facebook ad.
You can also get terrific insights to your audience’s needs from questions they pose as you record or later in the comments.
More features and tools are coming, so start getting comfortable with live video and building your audience now.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZR2KxFYL1E[/embedyt]
2. Try New Things to Inspire Others
Pat described how he took his 7-year-old son to a toy store along with the Amazon Seller app loaded onto his phone. They went looking for toys that were a great deal in-person but selling for a lot more on Amazon.
Through this retail arbitrage experiment, he accomplished two inspiring things:
- He taught his son a great lesson in entrepreneurship in a fun, hands-on way.
- He shared this experiment with this audience to show them that they could do it too.
Here’s a recent photo from Pat’s Instagram account showing part of the experiment in action:
Even if his son or members of his tribe do not want to resell things on Amazon, it’s an educational demonstration that ideas are all around us. You just have to keep your eyes open and take action.
3. There’s Nothing Like Networking In-Person
As much as I love the online world and am so thankful for its ability to keep me connected to friends, family, and business contacts all over the world, there is still something magical that comes from getting to know people in-person.
There is an extra level of bonding that can occur.
Pat shared with us during the meeting that when he was just getting started and growing his business, he really benefited from groups of fellow entrepreneurs who were peers and mentors from in-person groups.
That is part of what inspired him to organized the San Diego Entrepreneurs Group. Both to give back and to be a part of another great group.
If you do not live in San Diego, don’t fret! There are groups everywhere, and if none nearby suit you, create one! Even if it starts small, it will be incredibly valuable to you and your business.
And, hey, if you’re ever in the SoCal area, let us know. We meet on the first Wednesday of each month.
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