The 6 components you need in place to get paid teaching others what you know and love

At The Mastery Memo, I aim to help as many as possible realise your dream of building a loyal tribe, making an impact with your ideas, and getting paid good money for what you know.

I've been learning everything there is to know about how to do this effectively over the last fourteen years.

There are certain components to this that are highly relevant, and many people miss them.

Here they are:

1. Personal brand.

I read somewhere recently that when people invest in a product or business, just 20% of those decisions (buying decisions) are based on what you - the seller or creator - know.

80% of buying decisions are based on who you are.

The 'who you are' part is your personal brand. It's what makes you stand out from other personalities in your industry.

It's the part of your business that stays consistent, even if your topics, products and services change over time.

Your personal brand is not the same as a company or product brand.

Your personal brand is about taking those aspects of you that are unique and interesting to you and embellishing them so that people perceive you as different and you resonate with the kinds of people you want in your tribe.

Being authentic, telling us what you stand for and who you are here to help, sharing your message, your appearance, and developing a unique writing voice all contribute to your personal brand.

2. Traffic source.

You want to inspire, coach and teach people with your knowledge.

This requires reaching people, and ideally, it's the kind of people who align with your values and style.

They are also the kinds of people you enjoy working with. This is why you need a community - a tribe.

These people can spread your message, support your growth, and pay you well for your help.

So you need the means to attract, inspire and grow such a tribe or audience.

Where do these people come from?

That's your 'traffic source.'

One of the things that has worked for me over the years, and is something I teach, is writing on various social platforms to attract my tribe.

Other people might use advertisements on social media, make YouTube videos, or speak at conferences to attract this kind of attention.

If your plan is to grow a small, client-based business, it might be that your traffic source is simply acquiring referrals through word of mouth.

That's great too.

Experiment with a range of strategies to build your audience if you need first, and then do more of what works.

3. Tribe collection.

Once you've found a fruitful way to attract the attention of people who didn't initially know you, you want a means to collect these people in one place.

The two obvious ones in this digital age are creating new social media followers and adding subscribers to your newsletter.

In both instances, software enables people who could live thousands of miles away to be attached to you and see new content updates from you as you share them.

It could also be as simple as adding new names and addresses of individuals to your Rolodex or contacts folder on your computer.

These people include readers, raving fans, mentors, prospects and clients.

The ultimate asset for putting your tribe in one place is your newsletter because - unlike your social media accounts - you have complete ownership over your newsletter.

Those who subscribe to this are members of your tribe who have demonstrated they are more 'bought in' to your brand than those who are 'merely' a social media follower or lurker.

4. Relationship-nurturing.

You now have a tribe of people who resonate with your brand and message filling up in various contexts or 'nodes.'

For example, you might have a Twitter and Instagram following and a newsletter to which these social channels point followers.

But a tribe isn't a short-term thing. You want your community to get to know you over time. You want to develop sticky followers and loyalty in these people.

Trust is vital if you want people to pay you money for your help, whether through teaching workshops, coaching or selling digital products.

It's also essential to have people around you who tell others about your products, provide feedback for new products, and even mentor you.

Most people will not buy from you immediately.

Sales is a long-term game of relationship-building, with most people taking weeks or months before deciding to spend money on you.

That's not to say you can't turn a stranger into a buyer very quickly with the help of online technology. Still, everyone's trust needs to be nurtured before buying anything, even if it only takes 30 minutes via a webinar.

How to develop ongoing trust? Share value and show them who you are over time.

This is done through content creation, communicating with your people, and sending out newsletters.

5. Product.

You will eventually need a product if you want to make money from your passion and knowledge.

Cash flow is King in business, and you want to bring in money as soon as possible.

Having a product enables you to monetise your expertise and maintain a thriving business with an expanding impact.

A product could be as simple and quick to compile as a digital template or a $15 pdf. But it could be a live workshop, a coaching group, a direct service, a more extensive digital product or online school, a membership or an in-person retreat.

You want your tribe to pay for something, so you bring in cash flow, or at the very least, reviews and feedback for a free experience.

Many people hold back on creating and launching a product because they need it to be perfect.

Your product needn't be perfect - it just needs to help.

You have a workable product if you can help someone create results in their lives. Get it out there.

You also need the right philosophy around making money from your knowledge.

The thing that's helped me the most is knowing that money is a reward I get for helping people.

This is how you get paid for your talents and skills.

6. Offer.

Just because you have a product does not mean people are going to instantly buy it (or use it, even if it's free).

Let's say you're going to run a workshop on how to create hand-made greeting cards. People need to know your workshop (and the time they give up for it) has a high likelihood of helping them get what they need.

You need to motivate people to want to send you their hard-earned money.

This is where an offer or proposal comes in.

When you read a label on a tin of nuts and you see a beautiful photograph of delicious, oily peanuts, that's an offer.

When you read a website with vivid pictures, a clear, written itinerary, and raving reviews about a package tour to Greece, that's an offer.

You need to know how best to present your product to your tribe and potential buyers.

An offer could be the list of benefits and bonuses you include on an online landing page, leading to a button being clicked.

Finding an effective (ideally mind-blowing) offer might take some experimentation, but the goal must be to persuade a significant portion of people to want to buy.

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Make sure you're subscribed here at The Mastery Memo as I share more about how to get paid doing what you love.

Alex

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