Hey Intrepid Explorer!

This is Rang Noi island.

Not far off the coast of Koh Kaew in Phuket (where I currently live), I have a semi serious dream of owning this little island one day. Akin to Gary Vee’s dream of buying the Jet’s, this is my little fantasy!

I raise it because this past week, I sailed past it again on route to Phi Phi island for a snorkelling/boat day out with some friends, here on their annual Phuket trip.

Unfortunately the sea was full of jelly fish. Fortunately most of them aren’t stingers.

We were a little cautious as getting stung is no fun and you really don’t want to get into a fight with a box jelly fish (rare but can be fatal). But with a mask, snorkel and a bit of common sense it’s quite a sight to see them floating along under the water with many providing a food source for the numerous species of fish.

I didn’t get any great pics of the jelly’s. But I did get a quick shot of the salps floating about:

Although they look like a species of jelly fish, they are a different animal altogether and don’t sting. Living off phytoplankton, if you see these little guys, keep a look out for mantas or even whale sharks as they could be close by.

Unfortunately we didn’t see any, but maybe next time….

This Week!

Here’s what I have for you this week;

1. Travel Trivia - Pink lakes?

2. Mini Mastery - The Exact Steps I’d Take to Build a Brand Online Today (an overview of a conversation I had over coffee with a nutritionist wanting to build her brand online)

3. Resource Roundup - Do you need more time?

4. Zero to $10k Etsy Challenge - Temporary Halt in Proceedings

5. Question Time!

Travel Trivia!

In which country can you find an isolated natural lake with a vivid pink hue, similar salt content to the Dead Sea, and year-round colour stability, making it one of the most unique and pristine natural wonders in the world?

(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

Mini Mastery - The Exact Steps I’d Take to Build a Brand Online Today

I met a lovely lady this week called Cristina who is a qualified nutritionist and is looking to grow her business online.

Originally from Barcelona, now living here in Phuket, she wants to build a global community of women over 40 who want to be feel happier and healthier!

She’s already started publishing regular content on Instagram but was unsure what to do next to grow her business. My advice to Cristina was to start building her email list as soon as possible and start sending a weekly newsletter.

We began discussing lead magnets, email providers, what kind of emails to send and how to go about setting all this up and so I thought I’d share an overview of the conversation we had.

Whether you’re growing an information based business like Cristina, or an ecommerce business (the order is very slightly different for each model), building a successful business is much like planning a big trip. You need a map, a plan, and a sequence of events to follow.

Here’s a path I’ve found effective;

1. Get Specific With Your Niche/Target Market

Your first step is to pinpoint your niche and understand your target market inside out. Having clarity around your target audience helps you to tailor content and offerings that meet their specific needs and challenges.

In Cristina’s example she wants to target women over 40. That’s good enough to get started, but to really attract a crowd in such a highly competitive market I might even niche down a bit further and be more specific, some examples might include;

• Women in the peri menopause or menopausal stages of their life. (This is a bit of an untapped market at the moment and so there’s lots of room for growth)

• Women with specific health issues - thyroid, diabetes etc

• Postnatal nutrition for Women over 40, targeting women who have had children later in life

The more specific you are at the start of your journey, the faster you’ll attract your target market and then as your audience grows you can branch out and include some broader niches.

2. Create a Lead Generation Funnel

Next, set up a lead generation funnel to attract and gather your ideal customers. This is done by creating a compelling lead magnet that provides value in exchange for their email address.

In Cristina’s case we chatted about creating an ebook with some high protein recipes specifically for 40+ women, but after a quick chat with ChatGPT here are some potential alternatives for attractive lead magnets for her market;

1. High-Protein Recipe eBook: "Boost your energy with 10 quick high-protein recipes, each ready in 20 minutes, specially crafted for women over 40."

2. Menopause Quiz: "Take our revealing quiz to understand your unique menopause journey and receive tailored lifestyle advice."

3. Anti-Inflammatory Toolkit: "Unveil the secrets to aging gracefully with our comprehensive toolkit, featuring a 4-week anti-inflammatory meal plan and wellness tips."

4. Hormonal Harmony Templates: "Navigate hormonal balance effortlessly with our easy-to-use templates, providing dietary and lifestyle adjustments for women over 40."

5. Mindful Eating Journal: "Redefine your food relationship in 30 days with our journal, cultivating mindfulness and healthy eating habits through guided prompts."

3. Create Consistent Content on Your Platform of Choice

Now, with your foundation set you can start producing consistent, valuable content on your chosen platforms.

Whether it’s a blog, YouTube channel, Instagram account or podcast, ensure that your content directs your audience to your lead generation funnel.

This will take time. Commit to growing your audience and your email list for as long as it takes.

Set a goal for subscribers, open rates and click through rates - NOT followers and likes.

While followers and likes are useful for measuring how effective your content is, your key metrics need to be the numbers of people subscribing to your newsletter and how many of them are engaging with you (opening and clicking).

Cristina is already on Instagram, and publishing some great content (I followed her air fryer frittata recipe this morning!), so she just needs to publish and add links to her lead magnet, and create some specific content around it to start growing her subscriber database.

4. Engage Your Audience with Regular Newsletters

As your audience grows you’ll want to keep the conversation going with a regular newsletter.

Ideally plan to send out a newsletter at least once a week if not more. This is your opportunity to deepen your relationship with your audience.

For Cristina she could send a new recipe every week, some tips on managing perimenopause symptoms, anti-inflammatory meal tips, and anything else that’s relevant to her audience.

Surveys and questionnaires can also be golden, as they help you understand your subscribers evolving needs.

5. Create & Launch Products & Services

Now, with insights into your audience’s likes and dislikes, you can start to create products or services that offer solutions.

You might start offering courses, coaching, guides, products, or affiliate for other people’s products. Or you may not sell anything yourself, preferring to include sponsored links and products from companies wanting to promote themselves to your audience.

In Cristina’s case she wants to create a safe place for women to network and find support on their health journey and also offer coaching and one to one nutrition advice.

By growing an audience of engaged subscribers and finding out the kind of content that truly resonates with them, she can now tailor her coaching offer using the specific language and pain points highlighted by her audience.

Quick Note for the Ecommerce Superstars Amongst Us

If you’re launching or growing an ecom business, the only slight tweak to the above strategy is that you’ll likely start with products, and with your store live, focus on building your lead generation funnel using discounts, coupon codes or special offers in exchange for email sign-ups.

Then as you gain insights from your audience you can introduce new products, tweak existing ones, or even pivot your offerings.

Of course at some point Cristina could also add an ecommerce arm to her business and sell cooking products, supplements or anything related to her niche, and with a ready made audience she’d likely sell lots of products quickly. 💰

The route I’ve described will work for any online business model, whether selling coaching, digital courses, physical products or even as an influencer.

The key is to reach a point where you ‘own’ your distribution channel (i.e., your email list), ensuring you're not solely dependent on the whims of third-party platforms where firstly you’re at the mercy of their algorithm, and secondly navigating the customer journey can be more challenging.

If you’re wondering how to get started and in which order you should be doing things, I do hope this overview of the chat I had with Cristina has been useful for you too.

If you have any specific questions I’d love to answer them in a future newsletter or blog post, so please use the link at the bottom of the newsletter to ask away!

Resource Roundup

I’ve been listening mainly to 80’s playlists while walking the dog this week so don’t have too many interesting podcasts or posts to share with you, (happy to share my 80’s playlists!) 😀 

But this FB post from Tim Ferriss caught my eye, as the one thing we’re always on the lookout for, particularly when working and travelling, is more time.

I loved the framing of the two questions, definitely worth some journal time…

Zero to $10k Etsy Challenge - Temporary Halt in Proceedings

So, Etsy banned both my travel store which had zero products listed, and my dog store which only had inactive products listed.

I got the exact same templated email back for each store, which is a typical ‘computer says No’ moment. So with that being the case, I can only assume it’s due to my location which doesn’t correspond with my business address or credit card details, and due to the mismatch, the system doesn’t like it.

My assumption is based on the fact our location has been a recurring issue we’ve had with many platforms, payment systems, credit card companies etc, over the years. The online world is global but so many companies are yet to catch up.

I have of course filed a detailed appeal and will see if anything comes of it, but my intuition is telling me to wait until we’re in Australia later this year where I can sign up from an Oz IP, with an Oz address and Oz bank details. I think I may have more success and less drama from the outset.

We shall see. However, for the meantime my challenge is temporarily at a stand still. But, I don’t want to leave you empty handed, so here are some resources I highly recommend if you want to launch and grow your own Etsy store;

Ecomm Clubhouse by Wholesale Ted - I love Sarah, she’s very generous with her information and you can get a lot from her free YouTube vids. But if you want to take it to the next level, her course is great, albeit focused mainly on Shopify rather than Etsy (though a lot of the principles are the same).

Etsy Printables Free Workshop - Julie & Cody are experts in selling printables on Etsy and have coached over 10,000 students how to the same. Watch their free workshop to get more details.

The Etsy Seller Podcast - Cody McGuffie is the CEO and founder of EverBee, software to help you analyse shops, listings etc. He interviews some very successful sellers and gives lots of free tips. Well worth a listen.

In the meantime, never one to waste too much time, I’m seriously considering moving straight to Shopify and starting my own store with no 3rd party rules or regs. I’ll keep you posted! 😎

Trivia Answer

If you guessed Lake Hillier, located on Middle Island in Western Australia, you would be correct!

Known for its consistent bright pink colour, that’s believed to be due to the presence of Dunaliella salina, a type of microalgae that produces carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, and Halobacteria, both of which contribute to the lake's pink hue.

It also has high salinity similar to the Dead Sea meaning you can easily float about in it if that’s your thing! However, it’s not easily accessible, and you’d typically view the lake by helicopter or from lookout points on cruises.

Adding it to my Australian bucket list! 😎

Question Time!

I love hearing from you and always want to make sure I’m publishing content that helps you on your journey, so to this end I’ve created a form for questions.

If you have any specific questions you'd love me to answer about becoming a nomadic solopreneur, building an online business, or travelling the world, please do so via the link below!

I'll answer via a blog post, mini mastery, podcast or even an FAQ in the newsletter. 

Ask Me Anything!

Also don’t forget to complete the survey if you haven’t already for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Next draw - 31st March. 😁 

That’s All Folks

That’s a wrap for this week. Thanks for reading, I hope it’s been useful.

It’s UK Mothers Day today, so Happy Mothers Day to all the Mum’s out there! I hope you have a nice day planned. ❤️

In the meantime, make sure to come and connect on the FB Page, have a fabulous week, live your best life and as always get out there and make it happen!

Jo 😊