Work Less, Earn More

These days, there are so many ways to monetize your knowledge.You could write a book or an ebook. You could create a course that people can go through at their own pace. Or you could run a live program where you guide people through the material and help them apply it. You could provide coaching or consulting or even a service where you use your knowledge to help others.Over the last five years or so, I've monetized my knowledge in almost all of these different ways. And some of them took a lot of effort and time and didn't pay very well. And then others have been extremely profitable.So today I wanted to share with you what has worked best for me and has allowed me to build the multi six figure information business that I run today, and also what I would recommend someone do if they’re interested in getting started in the information industry.Listen to the full episode to hear:The first two steps to turning your knowledge into a businessThe research questions you need to ask when you’re developing your ideaWhy you need to sell your product before you create itHow to go small to make salesThe two sides of automating your business Learn more about Gillian:Funnel MasterclassStartup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkinsResources:100 Digital Product Ideas

Ever since people started lending other people money thousands of years ago, it's been possible to earn passive income.But things have changed a lot over the centuries and they’re changing all the time now as technology advances.That means there are so many different ways you can earn passive income beyond the old fashioned way of collecting interest on a loan.So how does passive income work nowadays?It can sound too good to be true. It sounds like making something out of nothing. And a quick google will pull up hundreds of stories of people who say they’ve been wildly successful at it.So how do you know what’s real?Here’s the reality. We’re not creating something out of nothing. We are investing time or money into creating this stream of passive income for the future.Let’s dig into what that really means.Listen to the full episode to hear:What passive income means at its most basic in the real worldWhy passive income is never passive to start out withHow to weigh effort versus return and risk versus reward when investing time and moneyFive steps to starting a passive income streamLearn more about Gillian:Funnel MasterclassStartup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you are thinking about creating your first course, this is the episode for you.From generating leads with no audience or a small audience to launch strategies to pricing to turning your leads into paying, satisfied customers, I’m going to cover it all with Jess Catorc from Teachable.Teachable is a course hosting platform that has been around for nearly a decade and has worked with thousands upon thousands of course creators. They’ve got the data, the tools, and the expertise to help make your course a success, and Jess is a major part of that.Jess is an award-winning brand strategist and leads Launch Creator Initiatives at Teachable. She’s been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, ABC television network, and has spent the last 8+ years working with creators and startups to expand their reach and revenue online in the Creator Economy. Listen to the full episode to hear:How to collaborate to grow your audienceWhy using lead magnets and microproducts helps you validate your course ideaWhy your first launch is about collecting data on what worksHow to build a simple sales funnelWhat you need to consider when you’re pricing your courseLearn more about Jess Catorc:TeachableInstagram: @jesscatorc @teachableKeep the Receipt podcastLearn more about Gillian:Funnel MasterclassStartup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you’ve heard people talking about repurposing content, you’re probably heard something like this:Plan and film one video, then edit it and turn it into 8, 9, 10 pieces of content! One video turns into a YouTube video, a podcast, a blog post, social media posts, a newsletter, and more! The gurus will tell you this is a smart, time-saving way to multiply your efforts so you can show up everywhere online.Sounds great, right?The only problem is, it doesn’t work.Which is why today I’m sharing my content repurposing strategy that makes effective use of my content and my time.Listen to the full episode to hear:Why posts from standard repurposing advice fall flatHow I create content that works for multiple platforms based on my YouTube videosWhy promoting your content isn’t the same as repurposing itLearn more about Gillian:Small Business 101Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

This podcast is called Work Less, Earn More and pretty much the whole premise is figuring out which activities, tasks, or projects actually make your business the most money, focusing on those, and letting go of the rest.That way you can earn the most, with the least amount of time and effort.And you would think that since I’m doing YouTube and this podcast, I would have figured out by now which one actually makes me more money and which one I can let go of, because they’re both pretty time-consuming.So why do I keep doing both? And which one actually does bring in more money?Listen to the full episode to hear:A breakdown of how I make money from YouTube and the podcastWhy the podcast is a key piece of the customer journey, even though it has less overall traffic than YouTubeLearn more about Gillian:Small Business 101Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

One of the most common questions I get here and in real life is “how do you do it all?”How do you balance your schedule as a mom who also runs a business? How do you run a business and homeschool your kids and cook meals, exercise, and, and, and?Well, the short answer is that phrase “you can have anything but you can’t have everything.” Or to paraphrase, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.It really comes down to making decisions about what your real priorities are, then making judgment calls about how to actually prioritize the things that are important to you and saying no to basically everything else.But I know a lot of you would like some more practical details of what that looks like in real life. So that’s what I’m sharing in this episode. I want to paint a picture of what my real days and weeks look like to help you understand how I do all this.Listen to the full episode to hear:Why I’ve chosen to budget more money for things that buy me more timeHow I prioritize self care, and what that really means for meWhy keeping it simple is keyWhat a typical day in my life looks likeLearn more about Gillian:Small Business 101Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In the last few episodes, we’ve been talking about how to find and land your first clients in your online business. So today, we’re replaying an interview with Jay Clouse about how to start a freelancing career.More people than ever before are taking the leap to work for themselves.There are a lot of potential upsides. A flexible schedule. Freedom of choice in who you work with and what you work on. Security. And of course, no limit on your potential earnings.But most people are also painfully aware of the challenges of getting started.Is your personality a good fit for freelance work? What business should you start? Will anyone even want to hire you? And how can you find your first client? To help you answer those questions and more, today on the podcast I’m bringing you Jay Clouse. Jay is the founder of Freelancing School and the Unreal Collective, and his speciality is helping people make that transition from creative-stuck-in-a-day-job to freelancer, then from freelancer to CEO.Listen to the full episode to hear:How Jay’s career evolved from startup cofounder to product management to freelance service provider and beyondA mindset shift around work, employment and compensation that will expand how you think about contract workThe relationship of leadership, expectation setting, expertise and pricingSteps for building your freelance portfolioLearn more about Jay Clouse:JayClouse.comFreelancing School 20% Off!Instagram: @JayClouseTwitter: @JayClouseCreative ElementsLearn more about Gillian:Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkinsResources:Gillian Perkins on YouTubeBusiness Plan Template

In the last episode, you heard the story of how I got my first clients and customers and finally started attracting the right customers.Now I want to share the stories of several other business owners and how they got their first customers and how those clients led them to where they are today.Emily Banks works with online business owners to help elevate their brands, products and marketing materials through strategy based design.Tiffany Pichardo of Virtually Simple is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in customer service and YouTube growth. Samantha Harris is a Lead Generation and Sales Strategist for online business owners. She focuses on developing organic strategies to help her clients reach more of their target audience so they can sell more of their offers.Tony Rulli is the Co-founder and Head of Advertising at Intentional Spark, a digital advertising agency dedicated to helping online business owners grow their businesses through digital marketing. Tony and his teams focus on Facebook and Instagram ads, but also manage all ad platforms for their clients. Listen to the full episode to hear:How Samantha used Instagram and Facebook to network her way into her first clientsHow being engaged in private groups and chats for small business owners landed Emily her first clients, without having to pitch her servicesHow Tiffany built her skill set in another position that led to her first clientsHow providing value, support, and free consultations through networking groups helped Tony fill his client rosterLearn more about Emily Banks:Emily Banks CreativeInstagram: @EmilyBanksCreativeLearn more about Tiffany Pichardo:YouTube: The Happy HomeschoolerLearn more about Samantha Harris:TheSamanthaHarris.comInstagram: @TheSamantHarrisTikTok: @TheSamantHarrisLearn more about Tony Rulli:Intentional SparkInstagram: @IntentionalSparkLearn more about Gillian:Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkinsResources:Work Less, Earn More Ep 118: How I Finally Found My First Customers

Getting momentum from zero is almost always the hardest part.That first hundred dollars, first thousand dollars that you earn is some of the hardest money you’ll ever make.And the same thing goes for finding your first clients.How do you go from zero to finding your first client or your first handful of clients?I know that when I first started it felt like a mystery. I had no idea where to start.In my first business, I overcame that hurdle accidentally and gained clients through word of mouth. But when I started my online business it was a whole other story.But I knew that if I was going to succeed with my online business, then I needed to find those first customers. So I started working on it.Here’s what I did, what didn’t work, and how I finally got my first customers.Listen to the full episode to hear:Four things that didn’t work and what I learned from themThe mistakes I made with my earliest paying clientsThe strategy that finally built momentum in my businessSeven principles for getting your first customers and building momentum that apply to any businessLearn more about Gillian:Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEGet on the waitlist for Creator Fast TrackProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

When I was fresh out of high school, I was already pretty dissatisfied with the different career options that were out there.And I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be when I grew up, but after getting some inspiration, I set out on my own to make an alternative option.I wanted to work a four hour week. I wanted to leverage my investments and make passive income.It all sounded great on paper. But in the real world, it wasn’t working at all.Because I was trying to follow instructions from books when I didn’t even have a way to tell people what I was doing, what service I was trying to offer, what product I was trying to sell.I had no audience.But I overcame that roadblock and today I’m sharing four principles that enabled me to start making money online, even before I had an audience.Listen to the full episode to hear:Why you might not want to play the long game of organic growthThe two major investments your business needs, and how to choose where to startHow to leverage your connections without feeling sleazyLearn more about Gillian:Startup SocietyGet on the waitlist for VALIDATEGet on the waitlist for Creator Fast TrackProfit Planning ChallengeGet in touch!Instagram: @GillianZPerkins