Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the podcast. On today's episode, we are sitting down with the amazing entrepreneur, Amy Porterfield. There's so much to learn from Amy in today's interview. Be sure you got that pen, piece of paper, sit back, take one thing from today's episode and implement in your life.
I would love to know what your biggest takeaway from today's episode was. Follow me on Instagram at ColinMorganDGP, shoot me a DM, share your thoughts with me. I look forward to hearing from them. But without further ado, let's jump into today's interview with Amy Porterfield.
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Amy Porterfield, welcome to the Daily Grind. How are you today? I'm wonderful. Thanks so much for having me.
I'm excited to be here. Amy, I'm really excited. I know everyone listening is excited. And what's new and exciting in your world, Amy?
So much has been going on. I recently built my team up. And so I've always had a small but mighty team. But recently, we brought some more full-time employees on, which is always exciting and a little scary.
So we're really focusing on team right now. Well, that's exciting. Yeah, really exciting. And if you wouldn't mind, Amy, say for the few people out there who are sitting first introduced to you, if you wouldn't mind kind of expanding on your intro and sharing a bit more about, say, who you are or what you do.
Yes, of course. So I teach entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses online, specifically around email list building, as well as creating online training courses and then selling those courses with webinars. So list building course creation and webinars are my areas of expertise. And I've been doing this since 2009 when I left my corporate job with Tony Robbins.
And it's been a wild ride, to say the least. So it's been really exciting. And I sell different online training programs teaching those different strategies. Yeah, you know what?
Well, what I love about what you're doing, Amy, is that now in 2018, you don't need a whole bunch of startup capital to start a business. You can do exactly what you're doing and do it through list building and webinars. And you're sort of at the top of your game and what you're doing. You know, it's so true that you don't need a lot of money.
When I look back at when I started, I don't ever remember thinking, okay, I have to have a certain amount of money to start this business. Basically, I was just making a little bit of money and keep putting it into the business as it grew. So it is a pretty amazing advantage to those of us who want to create an online business. Absolutely.
And if you don't mind, like walk through your entrepreneurial journey. I know you just mentioned that you were working with Tony Robbins and then 2009, you branched off on your own. Like what led you to doing what you're doing today? Share with us what that story is.
Yeah, I'd love to. So back in the day when I was working for Tony, I worked there for six and a half years as the director of content development. So I got to work on the content that Tony would do on stage, like events like Unleash the Power Within and Date with Destiny. Those are two events that I work on a lot.
And so I would work on the content that he would use on stage and also in his digital products. And so that took me across the world. I mean, I got to travel with Tony. It was a really exciting thing.
However, I still was working for somebody else. And I started to get that entrepreneurial bug. And at the time we started to create online training programs and we started to experiment with online launches. And so Tony brought in some of the gurus of online marketing and taught us how to launch.
And so that's where I started to learn about more strategies than just content development. And so after about a year of playing around with this idea of online launching and what it looked like, I wanted to do it on my own. So I asked if I could move into the marketing department. So for a while, I worked in the marketing department so I could kind of learn as I contributed to that company.
And then I asked if I could start to work from home a few days a week. And I'd been at the business a long time and was respected. So I got a lot of yeses. And then from there, I said, well, can I go part time?
So I took baby steps to move out on my own and start my online business. And what I wanted to do when I finally took the leap. So it took at least a year for me to take that official leap and go out on my own. What I wanted to do was create online training programs like I had been learning to do at Tony Robbins and teach other people how to do marketing.
I wanted to start with social media, but I didn't know how to create an online training program. So instead I started for two years, I took consulting clients. So I would do the social media for small businesses. And so that's what I did the first two years of my business.
And I hated it. So I basically created a business I didn't absolutely love, but I didn't know really what I was doing in those beginning years. So it just kind of happened that way. Yeah, well, I think that happens with a lot of people.
And it's, you know, it's really interesting how you're working with Tony Robbins. And for a lot of people, they wish they could work with Tony Robbins. But being the entrepreneur, having that bug, right, you wanted to branch off on your own. You knew there was something more for you, but you didn't just like quit.
Like, like, you'd hear when when Amy speaking, everyone is that she went through and she learned marketing, and then she went into different aspects working from home. It's taking those baby steps to set yourself up. And then you were confident enough to go off on your own. And even though on your own, you're starting off and you're consulting for two years, I'm sure you learned a whole bunch.
So like for you, when did it kind of click for you of going from consulting to what you're doing now? Okay, so about two years in, I realized that instead of working for one big guy, like literally Tony's big guy, physically too, instead of working for one big guy, I was working for eight little mini Tony Robbins, like bossing me around telling me what to do. So I had all these clients. I didn't really set good boundaries.
So I see so many of my flaws in what happened here. But I did have boundaries and they were calling me at all hours. Their expectations were crazy in terms of what I could do for their social media. And that's when I realized about two years in, I am not enjoying this business I created.
I'd rather go back to a corporate job where things are a little bit more stable. I get a regular paycheck. My insurance is covered and all is good in the world. If I'm going to be working this hard, I want to really love what I'm doing.
So I probably realized that one year in, but again, I'm a baby steps kind of girl. So I started to formulate, okay, what would a different type of business look like? And that's when I knew I wanted to create online training programs. So I started to work on my first online training program.
And then after about two years, I ended up letting go of all of my consulting clients. I reached a point that I thought I'm going to be able to make money with just this one course I had launched. Not as much money, but I was going to take the risk and I was going to go all in with doing webinars and promoting this one course and getting my name out there. And at the time I was wanting to be known for just Facebook marketing.
So I had to let go of the clients in order to make this work community first, and then you're asking them what they want, and then you have a business site. There's your business. Yes, it completely is so less stressful and will give you so much more confidence than if you just have a great idea. And so many of my students do this.
They have this great idea and they just create the course. And then they tell me they're struggling to sell it. I'm like, whoa, wait a second. Where's your list?
Where's your consistent content? When have we surveyed them? Have we gotten on the phone with them? None of that happened.
I get it. You want to jump to the good stuff. Creating a course is what will make you money, but you've got to build your platform first. Yeah, and it's like, you know, people think of it and they're like, oh, I can just create a course and sell it and it's going to make me money quickly.
But like it's like any business, right? It takes a really long time. It does. I have a mentor, Marie Forleo, and she's been my mentor from the very beginning.
Some of your audience might know her as the creator of a program called B-School, B standing for business. And she always talks about this online journey. And she talks about her different products. And she says, this will not be a get rich quick kind of experience for you.
It will be a get great over a long period of time experience. And if you are willing to get great over a long period of time with your online business, you will win. You will succeed. But if you're looking to make some money tomorrow, you're in for a huge disappointment.
It doesn't happen like that for 99% of us. For sure, not me. Yeah, it definitely did. I mean, I've tried it.
I tried creating a course. I think we all did. It's just like I'm like, oh, this is gonna be so great. This is awesome content.
And then it's like, okay, now how do I get people to watch the webinar? It's like exactly. There's so many steps. It's super tough.
It's super tough. And I love what you're doing. And like, I always preach having mentors and people by your side. You mentioned Marie.
It sounds like you do a whole bunch of different things in terms of just keeping up to date and self-educating yourself. Yes, I'm huge on educating myself. And now that I have this small team, we just were on a team meeting this morning and I have a gal that manages my podcast and I found this SEO podcasting program. I think it was like 100 bucks and someone had recommended it to me and I said, this is perfect for Tony.
So I said, Tony, I bought this program for you. Please go through it because I think we all have to be educating ourselves at all times. So I'm constantly going through new programs as well. Yeah, it's fantastic.
And it's just like you said, even if it's not you, it's someone on your team who's learning it and you're surrounding yourself with that great community and it seems like, you know, building your team, that's where your priority right now, right? So you wouldn't mind, like, walk us through your process. Like why build a team right now? What's the goal with where you are?
So that's such a great question because I have been in business for a while now and it's just recently that I started to build it up. I have five full-time employees and then I have some contractors, like my designer is a contractor, so I pay her per project. My copywriter, I pay him per project, but the people on my team, just to run through really quick, I have a project manager, a marketing assistant, a digital coordinator that works on all my podcast stuff. I have a content creator that is my sidekick because my specialty is creating content, but I want to do a lot more of it, so I finally decided I'm gonna hire someone to work with me on that.
And then I have a community manager who manages my private Facebook groups for all my students. That is something that's really a big focus inside of our business. People pay to be a part of these groups, so I needed to hire someone to make sure it's properly managed. So is that five?
So community manager, the podcast person, content, project manager, and marketing assistant. So those are five people that are on my payroll full-time, but here's the deal. Again, I've been in business for a long time. I would never start with that many people.
So just a year ago, I just had two people on payroll. A year before that, I only had one person. So I'm slow and steady for sure. So if you're just getting started in building your online business, what I always suggest is I want you sooner than later to think about hiring a virtual assistant.
And when I started back in 2009, I hired a virtual assistant for five hours a week. And I remember thinking, holy cow, how am I going to pay her and what the heck am I going to give her? Like, I remember it was a very real fear of mine and I'm so glad I did it because after we started maybe a few months at five hours a week, then I started to think, oh, I could give her this. I could give her that.
So baby steps. But here's what I think. There is no badge of honor in saying I did this all by myself because your competitors are going to pass you by saying, well, too bad for you because I got a virtual assistant so I could do twice as much as you can. And that is very true.
Do not say that it is a good thing that it's only you because it actually is not. Once you start making some money, I want you to invest at least in a virtual assistant to start handling some of the things for you so you can work on the stuff that you do so well. I think that's an amazing piece of advice. Like, don't try to do everything yourself.
I know I've tried to do that before and it's just you lack in different areas. You're trying to focus on your emails and all of a sudden you can't put out enough content, your content. Like everything just kind of goes to shambles because you're trying to take on too much being lean with your profits and your revenue. Yes, so true.
Yeah, love it. Now, Amy, before we take a short break here, one question I'd love to ask is, and you can choose the age, but I'm wondering if you could go back in time and say offer a young Amy one piece of advice or one piece of guidance, what that would be for you and why? So good. So if I could go back, I think I'd go back right when I started all of this.
So back in 2009, is that far enough or do you want me to go farther? No, that's good. Whatever you want. Okay, so if I went back to 2009 and I got to talk to that Amy, I would say do not take it all so seriously.
Have a little bit more fun with all of this. Take off more weekends. Do not kill yourself because you're going to, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and things will change and you'll make decisions that will not work, and that's okay, but just stay the course because, and the reason why I choose that is I reached burnout. I burnt out really quickly and had to kind of reassess because I was all in and totally focused.
There wasn't a weekend or a night or a morning I didn't work, including all throughout the day. So I think if you can have smart boundaries early, you will save yourself for the long haul. You'll be around years down the road when other people are saying, I can't do this anymore. Now, Amy, we have heard a lot from you today.
You shared a ton of great content. We covered a lot of topics. I always say, same audience listens back, they remember nothing or very little, but they can go home with one thing or one thought. Would you want that one thing or one thought to be?
The way your business looks today will be dramatically different even two years from now. Allow yourself to experiment and make mistakes. Try new things. Nothing's set in stone.
You can always pivot, but you have to take action every single day. I absolutely love that. Now, Amy, what's the best way that our audience can connect with you? Well, thanks for asking.
I'm at amyporterfield.com, and my podcast is called Online Marketing Made Easy. Fantastic. And I will share all those links. Check out what Amy's got going on.
If you haven't heard of her before, well, I'm sure you will right now. And as you can see from this interview, everyone, success is driven by passion, hunger, and today consistency and content. Everyone has to overcome obstacles. Everyone has a story.
Start building yours today. Today, we have the chance to speak with the amazing Amy Porterfield. Amy, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule and coming on the show with us today. So glad to be here.
Thanks for having me. It was a blast. And if you liked today's episode, everyone, just be sure to hit that subscribe button. Leave us a comment, share it with your friends.
Until next time, Colin Morgan signing off. And always remember to keep on grinding.